label - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English label (“narrow band, strip of cloth”), from Old French label, lambel (Modern French lambeau), from Frankish *lappā (“torn piece of cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *lappǭ, *lappô (“cloth stuff, rag, scraps, flap, dewlap, lobe, rabbit ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”). Cognate with Old High German lappa (“rag, piece of cloth”), Old English læppa (“skirt, flap of a garment”). More at lap.

label (plural labels)

  1. A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.
    Synonyms: sign, tag, ticket
    We laughed at her because the label was still on her new sweater.
    The label says this silk scarf should not be washed in the washing machine.
    Although the label priced this poster at three pounds, I got it for two.
  2. A name given to something or someone to categorise them as part of a particular social group.
    Synonyms: category, pigeonhole
    Ever since he started going to the rock club, he's been given the label "waster".
  3. (music) A company that sells records.
    Synonym: record label
    The label signed the band after hearing a demo tape.
  4. (computing) A user-defined alias for a numerical designation, the reverse of an enumeration.
    Storage devices can be given by label or ID.
  5. (computing) A named place in source code that can be jumped to using a GOTO or equivalent construct.
  6. (heraldry) A charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung.
    Synonym: lambel
  7. (obsolete) A tassel.
    • a. 1662 (date written), Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England, London: […] J[ohn] G[rismond,] W[illiam] L[eybourne] and W[illiam] G[odbid], published 1662, →OCLC:
      the arms or escutcheon of France , hanging by a label on an oak
  8. A small strip, especially of paper or parchment (or of some material attached to parchment to carry the seal), but also of iron, brass, land, etc.
    • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)]:
      Ere this hand, by thee to Romeo seal'd, / Shall be the label to another deed.
    • 1649, Jer[emy] Taylor, chapter 39, in The Great Exemplar of Sanctity and Holy Life According to the Christian Institution. […], London: […] R. N. for Francis Ash, […], →OCLC, (please specify |part=1 to 3):
      They […] 'sealed the grave, and rolled a great stone at the mouth of it' and as an ancient tradition says, bound it about with labels of iron.
    • 1650, Fuller, Pisgah, IV. i. 25:
      Where Balak met Balaam, standing as it were on his tiptoes on the very last labell of his land, to reach forth […]
    • 1679, Hist. of Jetzer, section 5:
      The flesh and skin hung down in long Collops and Labels.
  9. A piece of writing added to something, such as a codicil appended to a will.
  10. (historical) A brass rule with sights, formerly used with a circumferentor to take altitudes.
  11. (architecture) The projecting moulding by the sides, and over the tops, of openings in mediaeval architecture.
  1. In mediaeval and later art, a representation of a band or scroll containing an inscription.
  1. (graphical user interface) A non-interactive control or widget displaying text, often used to describe the purpose of another control.

small ticket or sign giving information — see also tag

name categorising something or someone as part of a group

label (third-person singular simple present labels, present participle (US) labeling or (UK) labelling, simple past and past participle (US) labeled or (UK) labelled)

  1. (transitive) To put a label (a ticket or sign) on (something).
    The shop assistant labeled all the products in the shop.
  2. (ambitransitive, ditransitive) To give (a label) to (someone or something) in order to categorise that person or thing.
    He's been unfairly labeled as a cheat, although he's only ever cheated once.
    • 1972 December 29, Richard Schickel, “Masterpieces underrated and overlooked”, in Life, volume 73, number 25, page 22:
      A friend of mine who runs an intellectual magazine was grousing about his movie critic, complaining that though the fellow had liked The Godfather (page 58), he had neglected to label it clearly as a masterpiece.
    • 2016 August 31, Tal Kopan, “Will Hillary Clinton’s GOP outreach alienate progressives?”, in CNN‎[2]:
      And the liberal blogosphere has long labeled Clinton part of the neoconservative wing, a conservative intellectual movement that supports an interventionist foreign policy.
  3. (biochemistry) To replace specific atoms by their isotope in order to track the presence or movement of this isotope through a reaction, metabolic pathway or cell.
  4. (biochemistry) To add a detectable substance, either transiently or permanently, to a biological substance in order to track the presence of the label-substance combination either in situ or in vitro
    • Apr 15 2015, “Protein binder woes”, in Nature Methods‎[3]:
      They may be used to label and image a protein within tissue, to isolate cells on the basis of marker expression, or to physically capture a protein from a complex biological mixture....

put a ticket or sign on

give a label to in order to categorise — see also catalog

Borrowed from English label.

label n (plural labels, diminutive labeltje n)

  1. quality label
    Max Havelaar is het bekendste fair-tradelabel.
    Max Havelaar is the most well-known fair-trade label.
  2. music label

Borrowed from English label, itself from Old French label, lambel (“fringe, strip”), 1899.

label m (plural labels)

  1. quality label
  2. (music) record label

Borrowed from English label.

label

  1. label

From French label (with possibility of indirect loan via Dutch label), from English label, from Middle English label (“narrow band, strip of cloth”), from Old French label, lambel (Modern French lambeau), from Frankish *lappā (“torn piece of cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *lappǭ, *lappô (“cloth stuff, rag, scraps, flap, dewlap, lobe, rabbit ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”). Cognate with Old High German lappa (“rag, piece of cloth”), Old English læppa (“skirt, flap of a garment”).

labèl (plural **label-label)

  1. label:
    Synonym: etiket
    1. a small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached
    2. (computing) a user-defined alias for a numerical designation, the reverse of an enumeration
  2. quality label

From English label, from Middle English label (“narrow band, strip of cloth”), from Old French label, lambel (Modern French lambeau), from Frankish *lappā (“torn piece of cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *lappǭ, *lappô (“cloth stuff, rag, scraps, flap, dewlap, lobe, rabbit ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”).

label (Jawi spelling لابل, plural **label-label or **label2)

  1. A label:
    1. A small ticket or sign giving information about something to which it is attached or intended to be attached.
    2. A name given to something or someone to categorise them as part of a particular social group.

label (Jawi spelling لابل, active melabel, 3rd person passive dilabel)

  1. To label:
    1. (transitive) To put a label on something.
      Saya melabel semua buku saya.
      I label all my books.
    2. (transitive) To give a label to (someone or something) in order to categorise that person or thing.
      Penjaga gol itu dilabel penyokong pasukannya sebagai pengkhianat selepas dia terjaringkan sebuah gol sendiri.
      That goalkeeper was labelled by his team's supporters as a traitor after he accidentally scored an own goal.

label oblique singular, m (oblique plural labeaus or labeax or labiaus or labiax or labels, nominative singular labeaus or labeax or labiaus or labiax or labels, nominative plural **label)

  1. strip of fabric
  2. badge; insignia
    Les armes son pere a label portoit
    His weapons bore the insignia of his father

Unadapted borrowing from English label.

label m inan

  1. (music) music label
    Synonyms: wytwórnia, wytwórnia płytowa

Borrowed from English label.

label m (plural labeli or labelau, not mutable)

  1. label
    Synonyms: llabed, lleineb
  2. record label
    • 2024 August 2, Golwg360‎[5], Celfyddydau:
      Mae cerddoriaeth Recordiau Sain, label recordio annibynnol hyna'r wlad, yn digideiddio'u hôl-gatalog ac yn ailddychmygu eu stiwdios gwreiddiol yn Llandwrog yn sgil prosiect newydd.
      Sain Recordings, the country's oldest independent recording label, are digitising their back catalog and reimagining their original studios in Llandwrog in a new project style.