labour English · revision 3873

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=la labor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈleɪ.bə/, US /ˈleɪ.bɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|labour]],^(Barnhart 1988) [[bor|fro|labour|t=toil, work, exertion, task; suffering]] (modern French labeur “ploughing”),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) from [[la|labor|t=toil, exertion; hardship, pain, fatigue]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) a word of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline) It has been connected with [[m|la|lābī|t=to slip, glide]] or labāre “to totter”, on the notion of tottering under a burden, but de Vaan finds this unconvincing.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) The verb is from Old French labourer, from [[m|la|labōrāre|t=to work, toil, suffer]].^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) The native word is [[work]].^(Etymonline) The spelling labor is found in Middle English as early as 1377,^(Barnhart 1988) and labour is now the chiefly British spelling of [[labor]].^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) It is related to [[laboratory]], [[elaborate]] and [[laborious]].^(Cresswell 2021)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A task, a project: about 1300 in Etymonline^(Etymonline) and before 1325 in Barnhart;^(Barnhart 1988) the OED's first sense, exertion of body or mind, is from before 1300.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ “Exertion of the body; trouble, hardship” is from the late 14th century.^(Etymonline) The meaning “physical exertions of childbirth” is attested from the 1590s, short for ''labour of birth'' (early 15th century),^(Etymonline) and Barnhart credits Spenser's Epithalamion (1595).^(Barnhart 1988) In economics, work directed to supplying a community's needs was used technically by Adam Smith in 1776,^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989) and labour as the body of workers, contrasted with capital, is from 1839.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) ''Labour-saving'' is from 1776,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) ''labour of love'' from 1797,^(Etymonline) ''labor union'' from 1866^(Barnhart 1988) and Labor Day was first marked in New York City in 1882.^(Etymonline) With a capital, Labour as short for the British Labour Party is attested from 1892, and the party name from 1886.^(Etymonline) The verb, “to work hard, strive”, is from the late 14th century;^(Etymonline) in modern French, Spanish and Portuguese it means “to plough”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – a task.^(Etymonline)

+ * late 14th century – toil, hardship; verb, to work hard.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1590s – childbirth.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1776 – economic labour, and ''labour-saving''.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1839 – the body of workers.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1882 – Labor Day.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1892 – the British Labour Party.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Physical or mental [[exertion]]; work.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A task or piece of work.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Workers, especially manual workers, as a class or as a factor of [[production]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # The process of [[childbirth]], from the first contractions to delivery.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''Labour'', the British Labour Party.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To work hard; to strive.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To move or proceed with great effort.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To be in childbirth.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # To work out or dwell on in excessive detail: ''labour the point''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[laborite]]

+ * [[labourite]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[laborious]]

+ * [[laboratory]]

+ * [[labor]]

+ * [[elaborate]]

+ * [[belabour]]

+ * [[collaborate]]

+ * [[travail]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}