labor

• labour (non-American spelling)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.bɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪbə(ɹ)

labor (countable and uncountable, plural labors)

1. (chiefly American spelling) Alternative spelling of labour.

• laboral
• laborious

labor (third-person singular simple present labors, present participle laboring, simple past and past participle labored)

1. US standard spelling of labour.

• Albor, Albro, Balor, Bolar, bolar, boral, lobar

Borrowed from Latin labōrem.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ləˈβor]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ləˈbo]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [laˈboɾ]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

labor m (plural labors)

1. labour, work

Clipping of laboratoorium.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑb̥or/, [ˈlɑb̥or]
• Rhymes: -ɑbor
• Hyphenation: la‧bor

labor (genitive labori, partitive laborit)

1. lab, laboratorium

   Synonym: laboratoorium

• labor in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “labor”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

Borrowed from German Labor.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈlɒbor]
• Hyphenation: la‧bor

labor (plural laborok)

1. (informal) lab, laboratory

   Synonym: laboratórium

From Old Latin labōs, of uncertain origin. Perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *leb- (“to seize, take”), whence Sanskrit लभते (labhate, “take, gain”) and Lithuanian lõbis (“wealth”). More commonly connected with labō (“I totter”)^[1] (see Etymology 2 below), via semantic development "teetering under a heavy load" > "burden" > "work", but this is rejected by de Vaan, who however provides no alternative.^[2] The semantic connection is weak in either case.

Prósper (2019, 27 (483)) suggests a possible root *dh̥₂bʰ-ōs, cognate with Lithuanian dobti (“to strike, beat, kill, (dial.) torment, exhaust”). See source for more.

• labōs

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫa.bɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈlaː.bor]

labor m (genitive labōris); third declension

2. work
3. labor, toil, exertion

   Synonyms: cōnātus, studium, opus, opera, cūra, mōlīmen, intēnsiō, mōlēs, pulvis

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 4.641–642:

     rege Numa, frūctū nōn respondente labōrī,
     inrita dēceptī vōta colentīs erant

     When Numa was king, the produce not responding to the labor,
     prayers were ineffective, the farmer deceived

4. (chiefly poetic) hardship, trouble, fatigue, suffering, drudgery, distress
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico VII.28:

     Labore operis incitati

     Incited by the fatigue of the work

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.384–385:

     et mediae tempora noctis erant, iam ducibus somnum dederat labor

     It was midnight, and by now their fatigue had given the leaders sleep.

5. illness

   Synonyms: aegritūdō, morbus, malum, pestis, incommodum, valētūdō, infirmitas

   Antonyms: salūs, valētūdō

6. the pain accompanying childbirth, labour

Third-declension noun.

• labōrō
• ēlabōrō

Perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to hang loosely, be weak”), and cognate with labō, English sleep, Proto-Slavic *slàbъ (“weak”).^[3]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈɫaː.bɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈlaː.bor]

lābor (present infinitive lābī, perfect active lāpsus sum); third conjugation, deponent

2. to slip, slide, glide; (of fluids) to flow gently
   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgics 2.346–353:

     Quod superest, quaecumque premes virgulta per agros,
     Sparge fimo pingui et multa memor occule terra,
     Aut lapidem bibulum aut squalentis infode conchas;
     Inter enim labentur aquae tenuisque subibit
     Halitus atque animos tollent sata; iamque reperti,
     Qui saxo super atque ingentis pondere testae
     Urgerent; hoc effusos munimen ad imbris,
     Hoc, ubi hiulca siti findit canis aestifer arva.

     • Translation by James B. Greenough

       For the rest, whate'er
       The sets thou plantest in thy fields, thereon
       Strew refuse rich, and with abundant earth
       Take heed to hide them, and dig in withal
       Rough shells or porous stone, for therebetween
       Will water trickle and fine vapour creep,
       And so the plants their drooping spirits raise.
       Aye, and there have been, who with weight of stone
       Or heavy potsherd press them from above;
       This serves for shield in pelting showers, and this
       When the hot dog-star chaps the fields with drought.

3. to fall, sink down
4. to slip, stumble
5. to vanish, pass away, elapse, escape

   Synonyms: fugiō, effugiō, ēvādō, refugiō, cōnfugiō, diffugiō, aufugiō, prōfugiō, āvolō, ēripiō, ēlābor

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 6.771–772:

     Tempora lābuntur, tacitīsque senēscimus annīs,
     et fugiunt frēnō nōn remorante diēs.

     Times pass away, and with years unnoticed we grow old, and days flee with no bridle holding [them] back.

7. to be mistaken, be wrong, err, commit a fault

   Synonyms: dēlinquō, errō, committō, offendō

This verb takes the future passive participle lābundus instead of *lābendus.

• “labor (noun)”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lābor (verb)”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lābor (noun)”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “lābor (verb)”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “labor”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.}}
• "labor", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to exert oneself very energetically in a matter: multum operae ac laboris consumere in aliqua re
    
  • the matter involves much labour and fatigue: res est multi laboris et sudoris
    
  • to spare no pains: labori, operae non parcere
    
  • not to leave off work for an instant: nullum tempus a labore intermittere
    
  • to spare oneself the trouble of the voyage: labore supersedēre (itineris) (Fam. 4. 2. 4)
    
  • capable of exertion: patiens laboris
    
  • lazy: fugiens laboris
    
  • to take a false step: per errorem labi, or simply labi
    
  • to make a slip of the memory: memoriā labi
    
  • to make a mistake in writing: labi in scribendo
    
  • immorality is daily gaining ground: mores in dies magis labuntur (also with ad, e.g. ad mollitiem)
    
  • (ambiguous) to drain the cup of sorrow: omnes labores exanclare
    
  • (ambiguous) rest after toil is sweet: acti labores iucundi (proverb.)
    
• labor in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

• albor, labrō

Borrowed from Latin labōrem.

labor m (plural labores)

1. labor

• lavor

• “labor”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “labor”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Borrowed from Latin labōrem.

• IPA^(key): /laˈboɾ/ [laˈβ̞oɾ]
• Rhymes: -oɾ
• Syllabification: la‧bor

labor f (plural labores)

1. labor
2. job, task, chore

   Synonyms: tarea, quehacer

3. work, effort

   Synonyms: trabajo, obra

4. needlework, embroidery

   Synonyms: costura, bordado

• “labor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024