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Capital vs Labour - What's the difference?

capital | labour |

As a noun capital

is capital.

As a proper noun labour is

(short for) the labour party.

capital

Alternative forms

* capitall (obsolete)

Noun

  • (uncountable, economics) Already-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production, such as steam shovels (equipment) and office buildings (structures).
  • (uncountable, business, finance) Money and wealth. The means to acquire goods and services, especially in a non-barter system.
  • (countable) A city designated as a legislative seat by the government or some other authority, often the city in which the government is located; otherwise the most important city within a country or a subdivision of it.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.
  • (countable) The most important city in the field specified.
  • * 2010 September, Charlie Brennan, "Active Athletes", , ISSN 1090-5723, volume 16, issue 9, page 83:
  • Hollywood is the film capital', New York the theater '''capital''', Las Vegas the gambling ' capital .
  • (countable) An uppercase letter.
  • (countable, architecture) The uppermost part of a column.
  • (uncountable) Knowledge; awareness; proficiency.
  • Usage notes

    The homophone capitol refers only to a building, usually one that houses the legislative branch of a government, and often one located in a capital city.

    Synonyms

    * (An uppercase letter) caps (in the plural), majuscule

    Antonyms

    * (An uppercase letter) minuscule

    Adjective

    (-)
  • of prime importance
  • * Atterbury
  • a capital article in religion
  • * I. Taylor
  • whatever is capital and essential in Christianity
  • Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation.
  • London and Paris are capital cities.
  • (British, dated) excellent
  • That is a capital idea!
  • Involving punishment by death.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • many crimes that are capital among us
  • * Milton
  • to put to death a capital offender
  • * 2002 , , The Great Nation , Penguin 2003, p. 517:
  • Some 1,600 priests were deported, for example, while the total number of capital victims of the military commissions down to 1799 was only around 150.
  • uppercase
  • One begins a sentence with a capital letter.
  • Of or relating to the head.
  • * Milton
  • Needs must the Serpent now his capital bruise / Expect with mortal pain.

    Antonyms

    * (uppercase) lower-case

    Derived terms

    * block capitals * capital asset * capital goods * capitalism * capital punishment * capital ship * economic capital * financial capital * human capital * personal capital * real capital * social capital

    References

    * ----

    labour

    English

    Alternative forms

    * labor (US)

    Noun

    (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada)
  • Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
  • * 1719, (Daniel Defoe), (Robinson Crusoe)
  • That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
  • * (Richard Hooker) (1554-1600)
  • Being a labour of so great a difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
  • (uncountable) Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
  • *, chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.}}
  • (uncountable) A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
  • The act of a mother giving birth.
  • The time period during which a mother gives birth.
  • (nautical) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
  • An old measure of land area in Mexico and Texas, approximately 177 acres.
  • (Bartlett)

    Usage notes

    Like many other words ending in -our''/''-or'', this word is spelled ''labour'' in the UK and ''labor'' in the U.S.; in Canada, ''labour'' is preferred, but ''labor'' is not unknown. In Australia, where ''labour'' is the usual spelling, ''labor'' is nonetheless used in the name of the , reflecting the fact that the ''-or endings had some currency in Australia in the past. * Adjectives often used with "labour": physical, mental, technical, organised.

    Synonyms

    *

    Derived terms

    * (The act of a mother giving birth) labour pain

    Verb

    (en-verb) (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada)
  • To toil, to work.
  • To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).
  • I think we've all got the idea. There's no need to labour the point.
  • To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard or wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden.
  • * Granville
  • the stone that labours up the hill
  • * Alexander Pope
  • The line too labours , and the words move slow.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • to cure the disorder under which he laboured
  • To suffer the pangs of childbirth.
  • (nautical) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
  • (Totten)