label

 
Pronunciation: /ˈleɪb(ə)l/

noun

  • 1a small piece of paper, fabric, plastic, or similar material attached to an object and giving information about it: the alcohol content is clearly stated on the label price labels
  • a piece of fabric sewn inside a garment and bearing the brand name, size, or instructions for care: a garment with the label ‘Laura Ashley’
  • the piece of paper in the centre of a record giving the artist and title.
  • a company that produces recorded music: independent labels
  • the name or trademark of a fashion company: she plans to launch her own designer clothes label
  • 2a classifying phrase or name applied to a person or thing, especially one that is inaccurate or restrictive: the label ‘salsa’ seems especially meaningless when applied to musicians like Tito Puente
  • (in a dictionary entry) a word or words used to specify the subject area, register, or geographical origin of the word being defined: the italic part-of-speech label follows the pronunciation
  • Computing a string of characters used to refer to a particular instruction in a program.
  • Biology & Chemistry a radioactive isotope, fluorescent dye, or enzyme used to make something identifiable for study: radioactive labels
  • 3 Heraldry a narrow horizontal strip, typically with three downward projections, that is superimposed on a coat of arms by an eldest son during the life of his father.

verb (labels, labelling, labelled; US labels, labeling, labeled)

[with object]
  • 1attach a label to (something): she labelled the parcels neatly, writing the addresses in capital letters
  • assign to a category, especially inaccurately or restrictively: many pupils felt that they were labelled as failures [with object and complement]: the critics labelled him a loser
  • 2 Biology & Chemistry make (a substance, molecule, or cell) identifiable by replacing an atom with one of a distinctive radioactive isotope, or by attaching a fluorescent dye, enzyme, or other molecule: insulin labelled with iodine-125 was used as a tracer

Derivatives

labeller

noun

Origin:

Middle English (denoting a narrow strip): from Old French, 'ribbon', probably of Germanic origin and related to lap1

Spelling rule

Double the l when adding endings which begin with a vowel to words which end in a vowel plus l (as in travel): (labels, labelling, labelled).