MANUAL LABOUR

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does manual labour mean? 

• MANUAL LABOUR (noun)
  The noun MANUAL LABOUR has 1 sense:

1. labor done with the hands

  Familiarity information: MANUAL LABOUR used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MANUAL LABOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Labor done with the hands

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

manual labor; manual labour

Hypernyms ("manual labour" is a kind of...):

labor; labour; toil (productive work (especially physical work done for wages))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "manual labour"):

application; coating; covering (the work of applying something)

bodywork (the work of making or repairing vehicle bodies)

handling (manual (or mechanical) carrying or moving or delivering or working with something)

picking (the act of picking (crops or fruit or hops etc.))

planking (the work of covering an area with planks)

wiring (the work of installing the wires for an electrical system or device)

 Context examples 

I had never done any hard manual labour, or scullion labour, in my life.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“How did you know, for example, that I did manual labour. It’s as true as gospel, for I began as a ship’s carpenter.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)