laboratory
nouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ləˈbɒɹət(ə)ɹi//
- Scotland//ləˈbɔɹətɹe//
- Scotland//-tɹɪ//
A room, building or institution equipped for scientific research, experimentation or analysis.
noun
- 1
A room, building or institution equipped for scientific research, experimentation or analysis.
- 2
A place where chemicals, drugs or microbes are prepared or manufactured.
Again she read the passage that had riveted her attention; and, rising from her seat, carried the still open volume, and laid it on a slab by the furnace in the laboratory: it was a celebrated treatise on poisons, written in the fifteenth century.
[Isaac Newton] was obsessed with alchemy. He spent hours copying alchemical recipes and trying to replicate them in his laboratory. He believed that the Bible contained numerological codes.
Etymology
Etymology tree Old Latin labōs Latin labor Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin labōrō Proto-Indo-European *-tōr Proto-Italic *-tōr Latin -tor Late Latin labōrātor Medieval Latin labōrātōrius Medieval Latin labōrātōriumbor. English laboratory Borrowed from Medieval Latin labōrātōrium.
Forms
- plural
- laboratories
laboratory · A room, building or institution equipped for scientific research, experimentation or analysis.
labour · An effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.labyrinth · A maze-like structure built by Daedalus in Knossos,…lace · A light fabric containing patterns of holes, usually built up…