Labour Meaning
/ˈleɪ.bə/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
nounThat which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
Sentence Examples
"I'd rather get the sack than not join the labour union," said the disgruntled worker.
Surpassing labour intensive, capital intensive, the age has shifted greatly to knowledge intensive.
The construction project required months of hard physical labour to complete.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The union fought for safer conditions for ____ workers in factories.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cost of ____ has increased significantly in recent years, making construction projects more expensive.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English labor, labour, labur, from Old French labor (modern labeur) and its etymon, Latin labor.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"[…]So I ſet myſelf to enlarge my Cave and Works farther into the Earth; for it was a looſe ſandy Rock, which yielded eaſily to the Labour I beſtowed on it[…]"
— 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 78:
"Being a labour of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for."
— [1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
"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."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 364–365:
"Paul Doherty came to the rescue when his wife Georgina went into labour early just minutes from their local hospital."
— 2017 March 7, Stephen Maguire, “Hero Irish dad reveals he had to tell car valet he ‘wasn’t up to anything illegal’ after wife gave birth on back seat on Donegal road”, in The Irish Sun, archived from the original on 06 Dec 2021:
"the establishment of a new settlement are entitled to five sitios of grazing land, and five labors (equal to 23,025 acres)"
— 1841, William Kennedy, Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The union fought for safer conditions for ____ workers in factories.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The cost of ____ has increased significantly in recent years, making construction projects more expensive.