Read full poem →I know my state, both full of shame and scorn,
Conceiv'd in sin, and unto labour borne,
Standing with fear, and must with horror fall,
Dictionary Entry
labour
Part of SpeechnounPronunciation/ˈleɪ.bə/Word FrequencyCommon (5.19)Curriculum FrequencyLess common (1)Used In Literature ↓Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
In a Sentence
“The essay uses labour to make the point more precise.”
Published Usage Examples
“Anyone possessing a diamond worth, for example, 600£, would here have at his disposal a year's income from one person's labour; but to buy such a diamond and to wear it because it represented that value would, in view of our institutions, be to make oneself ridiculous; for he who did it would simply be investing in tha”
“It was at an end, therefore, long before the moft confiderable improvements were made in the produ6Uve powers of labour, and it would be to no purpofe to trace further what might have been its effects upon the recompence or wages of labour*”
This entry also appears in ReadingWillow Year 10 word lists, so students can move between the dictionary and year-level study sets.
Origin
From Old French 'labour', from Latin 'labor' (toil, hard work).
Common Phrases
. labourparty labourmarket labourforce labourgovernment labourlabour international
Poetry examples for “labour”
Excerpts from the ReadingWillow English Library collection.
Read full poem →My true account, lest he returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask; But patience, to prevent
Read full poem →With my under-ground mine:
Till I looked from my labour content
To enjoy the event.
Read full poem →Ae night the storm the steeples rocked,
Poor Labour sweet in sleep was locked,
While burns, wi’ snawy wreaths up-choked,
Read full poem →No help, nor hope, nor view had I, nor person to befriend me, O;
So I must toil, and sweat, and moil, and labour to sustain me, O;
To plough and sow, to reap and mow, my father bred me early, O;
