labourer
English
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈleɪ.bə.ɹə/
Noun
labourer (plural labourers)
- Britain 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 4293071:
- 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.
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Anagrams
- rubeolar
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/
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
- labourage
- laboureur
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.
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Descendants
- French: labourer
References
- labourer on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)