Monday, September 1, 2008

Vocabulary word of the week.

In honor of the holiday this week’s word of the week is labor.
Yes I know every one knows what labor means but it is a very versatile word with an interesting origin.
It is a noun, a verb and an adjective all rolled into one handy little word.
Origin: The word labor is a Middle English word that comes from both the French word labour and the Latin word labor.
Uses.
It is a noun as in:
1.
a. Physical or mental exertion, especially when difficult or exhausting; work. See synonyms at work.
b. Something produced by work.
2. A specific task.
3. A particular form of work or method of working: manual labor.
4. Work for wages.
5.
a. Workers considered as a group.
b. The trade union movement, especially its officials.
6. Labor a political party representing workers' interests, especially in Great Britain.
7. The process by which childbirth occurs, beginning with contractions of the uterus and ending with the expulsion of the fetus or infant and the placenta.
It is also a verb as in:

To work; toil: labored in the fields.
1. To strive painstakingly: labored over the needlepoint.
2.
a. To proceed with great effort; plod: labored up the hill.
b. Nautical. To pitch and roll.
3. To suffer from distress or a disadvantage: labored under the misconception that others were cooperating.
4. To undergo the efforts of childbirth.
1. To deal with in exhaustive or excessive detail; belabor: labor a point in the argument.
2. To distress; burden: I will not labor you with trivial matters.
And finally it is an adjective in:
1. Of or relating to labor.
2. Labor Of or relating to a Labor Party.

There, you have a versatile word that also proves how smart you are beacsue you now speak Latin. Now if you will excuse I need to go and labor in my kitchen, it’s a mess.
Resource used: http://www.answers.com/labor

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