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.
Men have come to the shelter in the morning offering day labor in the farmlands to the east, and Martínez spent two long days this week picking onions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2023
Nowadays, when he’s not working day labor to earn some money, he’s out on Seattle’s streets cutting hair and trimming beards, offering a little love and attention to people who don’t have much.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2022
The markets’ popularity diminished in the ’40s after Mayor Fiorello La Guardia opened hiring halls, where contracts were signed laying out terms for day labor arrangements.
From New York Times ● Sep. 18, 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
Many Irish immigrants remained mired in poverty, relying on sporadic day labor to keep them afloat.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
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.
