资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Laboratory \Lab"o*ra*to*ry\, n.; pl. {Laboratories}. [Shortened
   fr. elaboratory; cf. OF. elaboratoire, F. laboratoire. See
   {Elaborate}, {Labor.}] [Formerly written also {elaboratory.}]
   The workroom of a chemist; also, a place devoted to
   experiments in any branch of natural science; as, a chemical,
   physical, or biological laboratory. Hence, by extension, a
   place where something is prepared, or some operation is
   performed; as, the liver is the laboratory of the bile.