A labour of love is work done because you care about it: long, sometimes hard, but done for its own sake, not for money. Restoring the old photographs became a labour of love. The love isn't romantic: people say it about crafts, history, music. In American spelling it's a labor of love.
When would you say a labour of love?
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be a labour of love; US a labor of love
- Restoring the old family photographs became a labour of love.
- The handmade book was a labor of love, with every page drawn by her brother.
- Keeping the tiny community cinema open is a labour of love for its volunteers.
What changed
First versionBuilding the miniature railway was a labour from love.
RevisionBuilding the miniature railway was a labour of love.
We do things out of love or from love, so from seems natural. But the idiom uses of: a labour of love, like a work of art. Replace from with of, and the expression is fixed.
A hobby is something you do to relax. A labour of love can be a hard project that lasts for years: Keeping the tiny cinema open is a labour of love. Unpaid work is just work without pay, with no hint that people enjoy it.
Your turn
Complete the idiom for work done because you care about it: a labour ___ love.
Show the answer
of — The idiom uses only of: a labour of love. From sounds like a reason, but it doesn't form the idiom.
Describe something a person you know does out of love, not for money. Use a labour of love.
Recording the village's old songs was a labour of love for the local music teacher.
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