day labor
Americannoun
-
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.
Home Depot also installed yellow barriers that close off access to the parking lot near IDEPSCA’s day labor center, located at the corner of the Cypress Park location.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 17, 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
He changed jobs again, picking up better-paying day labor shifts, and said he no longer hoped to attend night school.
From New York Times • Apr. 17, 2023
Angel hoped to help Greenwell start a tree-planting business that could free him from the vicissitudes of day labor and help him build a future.
From Washington Post • Feb. 13, 2020
She hadn’t known anything, really, of day labor, the life of apprentices.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
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.
