belabor

belabor
belabor (v.) 1590s, "to exert one's strength upon," from BE- (Cf. be-) + LABOR (Cf. labor) (v.). But figurative sense of "assail with words" is attested somewhat earlier (1590s); and belabored is attested from mid-15c. with a sense of "tilled, cultivated."

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • belabor — [bē lā′bər, bilā′bər] vt. 1. to beat severely; hit or whip 2. to attack with words; scold 3. to spend too much time and effort on; develop in too great detail [to belabor the issue] …   English World dictionary

  • Belabor — Be*la bor, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Belabored}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Belaboring}.] 1. To ply diligently; to work carefully upon. If the earth is belabored with culture, it yieldeth corn. Barrow. [1913 Webster] 2. To beat soundly; to cudgel. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • belabor — (Amer.) be·la·bor || bɪ leɪbÉ™ v. criticize, ridicule; excessively elaborate on a topic; beat, hit (also belabour) …   English contemporary dictionary

  • belabor — *beat, pound, pummel, thrash, buffet, baste Analogous words: *strike, hit, smite, slug, clout, swat, punch, box, cuff, slap …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • belabor — [v] dwell on beat a dead horse*, go on about, hammer home, overwork, pound, rehash, repeat; concept 56 …   New thesaurus

  • belabor — transitive verb Date: 1596 1. a. to attack verbally b. to beat soundly 2. to explain or insist on excessively < belabor the obvious > …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • belabor — be|la|bor [ bı leıbər ] verb transitive AMERICAN OLD FASHIONED to hit someone or something hard many times belabor the point to emphasize an idea or suggestion too much in a way that becomes boring or annoying …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • belabor — verb don t belabor the point Syn: overelaborate, labor, dwell on, harp on about, hammer away at; overdo, overplay, overdramatize, make too much of, place too much emphasis on; informal beat to death, drag out, make a big thing of, blow out of… …   Thesaurus of popular words

  • belabor — verb 1. to work at or to absurd length (Freq. 1) belabor the obvious • Syn: ↑belabour • Hypernyms: ↑work at, ↑work on • Verb Frames …   Useful english dictionary

  • belabor the point — {v. phr.} To overexplain something to the point of obviousness, resulting in ridicule. * / Lest I belabor the point, the teacher said, I must repeat the importance of teaching good grammar in class. / …   Dictionary of American idioms

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