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Wark vs Labour - What's the difference?

wark | labour |

As a noun wark

is pain; ache or wark can be (obsolete|chiefly|scotland) a building.

As a verb wark

is to be in pain; ache.

As a proper noun labour is

(short for) the labour party.

wark

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) werk, warch, from (etyl) . Related to (l).

Noun

(en noun)
  • Pain; ache.
  • Derived terms
    * (l) * (l)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) werken, warchen, from (etyl) . See above.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To be in pain; ache.
  • Etymology 3

    See work.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete, chiefly, Scotland) A building.
  • (Spenser)
    ----

    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)