labor

English Online Dictionary. What means labor‎? What does labor mean?

English

Alternative forms

• labour (non-American spelling)

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈleɪ.bɚ/
• Rhymes: -eɪbə(ɹ)

Noun

labor (countable and uncountable, plural labors)

1. (chiefly US) Alternative spelling of labour

Derived terms

Related terms

• laboral
• laborious

Verb

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

1. US standard spelling of labour.

Anagrams

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

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin labor.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /ləˈbo/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /laˈboɾ/

Noun

labor m (plural labors)

1. labour, work

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from German Labor.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

labor (plural laborok)

1. (informal) laboratory

   Synonym: laboratórium

Declension

References

Latin

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

• labōs

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈla.bor/, [ˈɫ̪äbɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈla.bor/, [ˈläːbor]

Noun

labor m (genitive labōris); third declension

2. work
3. labor, toil, exertion

   Synonyms: cōnātus, studium, opus, opera, cūra, intēnsiō, mōlēs, pulvis
4. (chiefly poetic) hardship, trouble, fatigue, suffering, drudgery, distress
5. illness

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

   Antonyms: salūs, valētūdō

6. the pain accompanying childbirth, labor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Derived terms

• labōrō
• ēlabōrō

Descendants

Etymology 2

From Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂b- (“to hang loosely, be weak”). Cognate with labō, English sleep.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈlaː.bor/, [ˈɫ̪äːbɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈla.bor/, [ˈläːbor]

Verb

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

2. I slip, slide, glide
3. I fall, sink down
4. I slip, stumble
5. I vanish, pass away, elapse, escape

   Synonyms: fugiō, effugiō, ēvādō, refugiō, cōnfugiō, diffugiō, aufugiō, prōfugiō, āvolō, ēripiō, ēlābor
7. I am mistaken, am wrong, err, commit a fault

   Synonyms: dēlinquō, errō, committō, offendō

Conjugation

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

Derived terms

Descendants

• English: lapse

References

• “labor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “labor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• 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.
• labor in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

References

Anagrams

• albor, labrō

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin labōrem.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• “labor”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014