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.
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
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
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.
