day laborer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a worker hired and paid by the day, especially for temporary or unskilled manual work

   The farm hired a day laborer to help repair the fences after the storm.

From day plus laborer, referring to a worker engaged or paid one day at a time. Day labor is recorded from Middle English, and day laborer from the early 16th century. The British spelling is day labourer; Adam Smith's closed daylabourer is a historical spacing variant.

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