manual labour
Definition
Noun: - Physical work performed with the hands: "Manual labour" refers to work that relies primarily on human physical effort and skill using the hands and body, as opposed to intellectual or administrative work.
Usage
- The term describes work in industries such as construction, agriculture, manufacturing, and maintenance.
- It often implies work that is physically demanding.
Examples
Advanced Usage
- "To engage in manual labour": to perform physical work.
- After university, he engaged in manual labour to understand a different way of life.
- The concept is often discussed in contrast to "mental labour" or "white-collar work."
Variants and Related Words
- Manual labor (noun): The American English spelling of "manual labour."
- Labourer/Laborer (noun): A person who performs manual labour.
- The contractor hired several labourers for the site.
- Manual (adjective): Relating to or done with the hands.
- Manual dexterity is essential for a surgeon.
Synonyms
- Physical work
- Blue-collar work
- Handiwork (when emphasizing skill with the hands)
- Toil (suggests exhausting labour)
Related Phrases
- "Hard labour": a specific term for physically punishing work, historically as a judicial sentence.
- The old law prescribed hard labour for that crime.
- "Sweat of one's brow" (idiom): a phrase meaning to earn something by one's own hard work, often manual labour.
- He built the business through the sweat of his brow.
Noun
-
labor done with the hands
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