labourer

English

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈleɪ.bə.ɹə/

Noun

labourer (plural labourers)

  1. British spelling standard spelling of laborer.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 17, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.

Anagrams


French

Etymology

From Middle French labourer, from Old French laborer, borrowed from Latin labōrāre, present active infinitive of labōrō. Replaced the Old French arer (to plough).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /la.bu.ʁe/
  • (file)

Verb

labourer

  1. (transitive) to plough

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading


Middle French

Etymology

From Old French laborer.

Verb

labourer

  1. to work (to do work); to labor
  2. to manufacture; to make (in a work context)
    • 15th century, Rustichello da Pisa (original author), Mazarine Master (scribe), The Travels of Marco Polo, page 15, lines 5-6:
      Et si labourent draps d'or et de soie et de toutes façons trés beaux.
      And they manufacture cloths of gold and of silk which are in all ways very beautiful.

Descendants

References

  • labourer on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330-1500) (in French)
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