belabor
Americanverb (used with object)
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to explain, worry about, or work at (something) repeatedly or more than is necessary.
He kept belaboring the point long after we had agreed.
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to assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule.
a book that belabors the provincialism of his contemporaries.
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to beat vigorously; ply with heavy blows.
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Obsolete. to labor at.
Etymology
Origin of belabor
Explanation
Belabor means to go at something with everything you've got. When you say, "Don't belabor or agonize over the decision," it means, "Move on." Belabor is made up of the Latin roots be and labor meaning "to exert one's strength upon." You can belabor a point by using excessive detail, or you could belabor the obvious by stating over and over what everyone already knows. Belaboring can be a physical attack as well. A person can belabor or beat the living daylights out of you with a club.
Vocabulary lists containing belabor
myPerspectives 10.3
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The Prince and The Pauper
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Vocabulary from Readings 4, Unit 2
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
