- 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. 2001.
belabor
Look at other dictionaries:
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 — (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
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 — 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
