labourer
English
Etymology
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈleɪ.bə.ɹə/
Noun
labourer (plural labourers)
- British standard spelling of laborer.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- 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.
- 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 392:
- By the mid-19th century, the typical village was sharply divided between the landowning class and the landless, voteless and largely illiterate labourers.
Derived terms
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Inherited from Middle French labourer, from Old French laborer, borrowed from Latin labōrāre. Replaced the Old French arer (“to plough”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /la.bu.ʁe/
Audio: (file)
Verb
labourer
- (transitive) to plough
Conjugation
Conjugation of labourer (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | labourer | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | labourant /la.bu.ʁɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
| past participle | labouré /la.bu.ʁe/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | laboure /la.buʁ/ |
laboures /la.buʁ/ |
laboure /la.buʁ/ |
labourons /la.bu.ʁɔ̃/ |
labourez /la.bu.ʁe/ |
labourent /la.buʁ/ |
| imperfect | labourais /la.bu.ʁɛ/ |
labourais /la.bu.ʁɛ/ |
labourait /la.bu.ʁɛ/ |
labourions /la.bu.ʁjɔ̃/ |
labouriez /la.bu.ʁje/ |
labouraient /la.bu.ʁɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | labourai /la.bu.ʁe/ |
labouras /la.bu.ʁa/ |
laboura /la.bu.ʁa/ |
labourâmes /la.bu.ʁam/ |
labourâtes /la.bu.ʁat/ |
labourèrent /la.bu.ʁɛʁ/ | |
| future | labourerai /la.bu.ʁə.ʁe/ |
laboureras /la.bu.ʁə.ʁa/ |
labourera /la.bu.ʁə.ʁa/ |
labourerons /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ |
labourerez /la.bu.ʁə.ʁe/ |
laboureront /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | labourerais /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɛ/ |
labourerais /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɛ/ |
labourerait /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɛ/ |
labourerions /la.bu.ʁə.ʁjɔ̃/ |
laboureriez /la.bu.ʁə.ʁje/ |
laboureraient /la.bu.ʁə.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | laboure /la.buʁ/ |
laboures /la.buʁ/ |
laboure /la.buʁ/ |
labourions /la.bu.ʁjɔ̃/ |
labouriez /la.bu.ʁje/ |
labourent /la.buʁ/ |
| imperfect2 | labourasse /la.bu.ʁas/ |
labourasses /la.bu.ʁas/ |
labourât /la.bu.ʁa/ |
labourassions /la.bu.ʁa.sjɔ̃/ |
labourassiez /la.bu.ʁa.sje/ |
labourassent /la.bu.ʁas/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | laboure /la.buʁ/ |
— | labourons /la.bu.ʁɔ̃/ |
labourez /la.bu.ʁe/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Derived terms
Further reading
- “labourer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French
Etymology
From Old French laborer.
Verb
labourer
- to work (to do work); to labor
- 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
- French: labourer
References
- labourer on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)