hard labour

British

noun

criminal law (formerly) the penalty of compulsory physical labour imposed in addition to a sentence of imprisonment: abolished in England in 1948

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Kateryna, who lives in Aylesbury, says a doctor helped her with a "hard labour".

From BBC

He was later sentenced to hard labour, but kept his job at the newspaper, according to a family statement.

From BBC

Now fit and injury-free, he is enjoying the fruits of hard labour building up his body.

From BBC

About two months after his detention on 2 January, a North Korean court sentenced Otto Warmbier to 15 years' imprisonment with hard labour on charges that he attempted to steal a propaganda poster.

From BBC

Her husband Nurul, who's 22, manages to pick up just a few days of work a month, doing hard labour or cleaning the stinky sewers, but most days he's forced to sit at home.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023