. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
you have here. The definition of the word
will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin laborare (“(intransitive) to labor, strive, exert oneself, suffer, be in distress, (transitive) to work out, elaborate”), from labor (“labor, toil, work, exertion”); perhaps remotely akin to robur (“strength”). Displaced native English swink (“toil, labor”).
Pronunciation
Noun
labour (countable and uncountable, plural labours) (British spelling, Canadian spelling, Australian spelling, New Zealand spelling)
- Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
- That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, , London: Will Stansby , published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):Being a labour of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
- (uncountable) Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 364–365:In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
- (uncountable) A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
- (medicine, obstetrics) The act of a mother giving birth.
- The time period during which a mother gives birth.
- (nautical) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
- (historical) A traditional unit of area in Mexico and Texas, equivalent to 177.1 acres or 71.67 ha.
1841, William Kennedy, Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas:the establishment of a new settlement are entitled to five sitios of grazing land, and five labors (equal to 23,025 acres)
- (uncommon, zoology) A group of moles.
Usage notes
Like many others ending in -our/-or, this word is spelled labour in the UK and labor in the U.S. As such, labor is the more common spelling of the unit. In Canada, labour is preferred, but labor is not unknown. In Australia, labour is the standard spelling, but the Australian Labour Party, founded 1908, "modernised" its spelling to Australian Labor Party in 1912 at the suggestion of American-born King O'Malley, who was a prominent leader in the ALP.
Synonyms
Coordinate terms
- (unit of area): vara (1/1,000,000 labor), sitio
Derived terms
Related terms
Collocations
Adjectives often used with "labour"
Translations
work
- Afrikaans: arbeid (af)
- Albanian: punë (sq) f
- Arabic: عَمَل (ar) m (ʕamal)
- Armenian: աշխատանք (hy) (ašxatankʻ)
- Azerbaijani: əmək (az), zəhmət, iş (az), əziyyət (az)
- Bashkir: эш (eş)
- Belarusian: пра́ца (be) f (práca)
- Bengali: কাজ (bn) (kaj), শ্রম (bn) (srom)
- Bulgarian: труд (bg) m (trud)
- Burmese: အလုပ် (my) (a.lup), လုပ်အား (my) (lup-a:)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 勞動/劳动 (lou4 dung6)
- Hokkien: 勞動/劳动 (lô-tōng)
- Mandarin: 勞動/劳动 (zh) (láodòng)
- Czech: práce (cs) f, námaha (cs) f
- Danish: arbejde (da) n
- Dutch: arbeid (nl) m
- Finnish: aherrus (fi)
- French: effort (fr) m, travail (fr) m
- Friulian: lavôr m
- Georgian: შრომა (šroma)
- German: Arbeit (de) f
- Gothic: 𐌰𐍂𐌱𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 f (arbaiþs)
- Greek: εργασία (el) f (ergasía), δουλειά (el) f (douleiá)
- Ancient: ἔργον n (érgon)
- Hebrew: עָמָל (he) m (amál), עֲבוֹדָה (he) f (avodá)
- Hindi: श्रम (hi) m (śram), काम (hi) m (kām)
- Hungarian: munka (hu)
- Icelandic: vinna (is) f
- Ido: laboro (io)
- Indonesian: tenaga kerja (id), kerja (id)
- Irish: obair f, saothar m
- Istriot: lavur
- Italian: lavoro (it) m
- Japanese: 労働 (ja) (ろうどう, rōdō)
- Kazakh: жұмыс (kk) (jūmys), еңбек (eñbek), іс (ıs), қызмет (qyzmet)
- Khmer: ការងារ (km) (kaa ngiə)
- Korean: 노동(勞動) (ko) (nodong), 로동(勞動) (ko) (rodong) (North Korea)
- Kyrgyz: жумуш (ky) (jumuş), иш (ky) (iş), эмгек (ky) (emgek), кызмат (ky) (kızmat)
- Ladin: lëur
- Lao: ການທຳ (kān tham), ນັກງານ (nak ngān), ງານ (ngān), ແຮງງານ (hǣng ngān)
- Malay: kerja (ms)
- Malayalam: അധ്വാനം (ml) (adhvānaṁ)
- Maori: mahi
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: хөдөлмөр (mn) (xödölmör), ажил (mn) (ažil)
- Nahuatl: tequiua
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: arbeid (no) n
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: троудъ m (trudŭ), работа f (rabota)
- Glagolitic: ⱅⱃⱆⰴⱏ m (trudŭ), ⱃⰰⰱⱁⱅⰰ f (rabota)
- Old East Slavic: трудъ m (trudŭ), робота f (robota)
- Old English: weorc n, earfoþe n
- Old Saxon: arƀed
- Persian: کار (fa) (kâr), شغل (fa) (šoğl)
- Plautdietsch: Oabeit f, Woakj n
- Polish: praca (pl) f
- Portuguese: trabalho (pt), labuta (pt)
- Romanian: muncă (ro) f
- Romansch: lavur m
- Russian: труд (ru) m (trud), рабо́та (ru) f (rabóta)
- Scottish Gaelic: saothair f
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ра̑д m
- Roman: rȃd (sh) m
- Sicilian: travagghiu (scn) m, lavuri (scn) m (work in the fields)
- Slovak: práca (sk) f
- Slovene: delo (sl) n
- Spanish: trabajo (es)
- Swedish: arbete (sv)
- Tajik: кор (tg) (kor), шуғл (šuġl)
- Tatar: эш (tt) (eş), хезмәт (tt) (xezmät)
- Telugu: శ్రమ (te) (śrama)
- Thai: แรงงาน (th) (rɛɛng-ngaan), การงาน (gaan-ngaan), งาน (th) (ngaan)
- Tocharian B: lāṃs
- Turkish: emek (tr), iş (tr)
- Turkmen: iş, zähmet (tk)
- Ukrainian: пра́ця (uk) f (prácja), труд (uk) m (trud)
- Uyghur: ئەمگەك (emgek)
- Uzbek: mehnat (uz), ish (uz)
- Venetian: laóro m
- Vietnamese: lao động (vi) (勞動)
- Welsh: llafur (cy) m, gwaith (cy) m
- Yiddish: אַרבעט f (arbet)
|
giving birth
- Arabic: مَخَاض m (maḵāḍ)
- Hijazi Arabic: طَلْق m (ṭalg)
- Armenian: ծննդաբերություն (hy) (cnndaberutʻyun), երկունք (hy) (erkunkʻ)
- Belarusian: ро́ды m pl (ródy)
- Bulgarian: роди́лни мъ́ки f pl (rodílni mǎ́ki)
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 生產/生产 (zh) (shēngchǎn)
- Czech: porod (cs) m, porodní bolesti
- Danish: fødselsveer
- Dutch: bevalling (nl) f
- Esperanto: akuŝpeno
- Finnish: synnytys (fi)
- French: accouchement (fr) m, travail (fr) m
- German: Wehen (de) pl
- Greek: τοκετός (el) m (toketós), γέννα (el) f (génna), ωδίνες τοκετού f pl (odínes toketoú)
- Ancient: τοκετός m (toketós)
- Hebrew: לֵדָה (he) f (leidá)
- Hungarian: szülés (hu)
- Icelandic: léttasótt f
- Ido: parturo (io)
- Irish: tinneas clainne m
- Italian: parto (it) m, travaglio (it) m, doglie (it) f pl, travaglio (it) m
- Japanese: 出産 (ja) (しゅっさん, shussan)
- Korean: 출산(出産) (ko) (chulsan)
- Malayalam: പ്രസവം (ml) (prasavaṁ)
- Maori: taunahua (of a difficult nature), whānautanga, whānau (mi), whakatina (if difficult), whakamamae
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: fødselsveer
- Nynorsk: fødselsvear
- Old English: earfoþe n
- Persian: زایمان (fa) (zâymân)
- Polish: poród (pl) m
- Portuguese: parto (pt) m
- Russian: ро́ды (ru) m pl (ródy)
- Scottish Gaelic: saothair f
- Sicilian: travagghiu (scn) m, partu m, sgravamentu m (only for animals)
- Spanish: parto (es) m
- Tajik: зоймон (zoymon)
- Telugu: ప్రసవం (te) (prasavaṁ)
- Ukrainian: ро́ди m pl (ródy), роди́ны f pl (rodýny), ро́диво (uk) n (ródyvo) (dialectal), поло́ги m pl (polóhy)
- Welsh: gweithwyr (cy) pl
- Yiddish: קימפּעט f (kimpet)
|
Verb
labour (third-person singular simple present labours, present participle labouring, simple past and past participle laboured) (British spelling, Canadian spelling, Australian spelling, New Zealand spelling)
- (intransitive) To toil, to work.
1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in Railway Magazine, page 165:Standing on the mountain above Caerphilly, one may reflect upon the gap where once stood Llanbradach Viaduct, and look near at hand upon the restored ruins of Caerphilly Castle; man labours to rebuild the mediaeval whilst he ruthlessly scraps the modern.
1961 May, “Beattock Interlude”, in Trains Illustrated, page 287, photo caption:"Crab" 2-6-0 No 42802 labours up to Beattock Summit with a northbound freight from Carlisle in August 1960.
- (transitive) To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).
I think we've all got the idea. There's no need to labour the point.
1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 36:It is needless to labor a point which is so well known. Everyone understands and appreciates the joy of finding that the long darkness is giving way, that the Sun is growing in strength, and that the days are winning a victory over the nights.
- To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard or wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden.
- To suffer the pangs of childbirth.
- (nautical) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
1808, William Gilpin, Memoirs of Josias Rogers, Esq:the ship laboured so much, and took in so much water in her upper works, that we could neither eat, nor sleep dry
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
to suffer the pangs of childbirth
Further reading
- “labor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “labour”, in The Century Dictionary , New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “labour”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- "labour" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 176.
Breton
Noun
labour
- work, job
French
Etymology
Deverbal from labourer. See also labeur.
Noun
labour m (plural labours)
- cultivation
Related terms
Further reading
Old French
Noun
labour oblique singular, m (oblique plural labours, nominative singular labours, nominative plural labour)
- (late Anglo-Norman) Alternative spelling of labur