day labor
Americannoun
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workers hired on a daily basis only, especially unskilled labor.
-
work done by a day laborer.
Etymology
Origin of day labor
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The raid occurred about 8:30 a.m. and involved both marked and unmarked vans, according to the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, a nonprofit day labor organization.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2025
Children find roofing work through churches, in Facebook groups and at day labor sites, where workers of all ages gather in the mornings in hopes of being chosen for jobs.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2023
But the lockdown was brutally hard on the poorest Indians and those who rely on day labor to survive.
From New York Times ● May 29, 2020
One of the substantial victories of the 1934 Bay Area strike was the replacement of the shape-up system—the informal hustle for day labor work—with a union-operated hiring hall that worked to racially integrate the workforce.
From Salon ● Apr. 11, 2019
The feast took precedence, unless you had a pass to go into town to sell crafts or had hired yourself out for day labor.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
