labor of love, a
labor of love
Work that is done for pleasure rather than money. Katherine spends all of her free time knitting baby clothes for her friends. It must be a labor of love.
See also: labor, love, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
labor of love
Fig. a task that is either unpaid or badly paid and that one does simply for one's own satisfaction or pleasure or to please someone whom one likes or loves. Jane made no money out of the biography she wrote. She was writing about the life of a friend and the book was a labor of love. Mary hates knitting, but she made a sweater for her boyfriend. What a labor of love.
See also: labor, love, of
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
labor of love
Work done for one's satisfaction rather than monetary reward. For example, The research took three years but it was a labor of love. This expression appears twice in the New Testament (Hebrews 6:10, Thessalonians 1:3), referring to those who do God's work as a labor of love. [c. 1600]
See also: labor, love, of
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
labor of love, a
Work done for the pleasure of accomplishment or from personal interest rather than for monetary reward or from a sense of duty; this book, for example. The phrase appears in two Epistles of St. Paul in the New Testament, one to the Hebrews (6:10) and the other to the Thessalonians (1:3), both referring to the faithful who do God’s work as a labor of love.
See also: labor, of
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- a labour of love
- labor of love
- knight of the road
- stick to (one's) knitting
- stick to knitting
- stick to the knitting
- stick to your knitting
- a man's man
- big-time spender