day labor
Americannoun
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workers hired on a daily basis only, especially unskilled labor.
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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.
He said he has been coming to the day labor center since it started operating some 20 years ago.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 6, 2026
He wound up at a day labor market in Beijing in September after his family’s restaurant in northeast China went bankrupt.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 20, 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
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.
