Jastrow: פּוֹעֵל

פּוֹעֵל m. (preced.) laborer, hired man, employee. B. Mets. II, 9 (30ᵇ) (בטל) היה בטל מסלע … כפ׳ if by taking charge of a lost animal he neglected his usual work to the extent of losing one Sela, he cannot say, give me one Sela, but he (the owner) pays him as he would pay an (idle) laborer, expl. ib. 31ᵇ כפ׳ בטל של אותה מלאכה וכ׳ like an idle laborer at the kind of work in which he was interrupted, i.e. as much as a laborer in that line would ask for stopping work for which he was engaged (which would be less than he would earn by working); [oth. opin.: as much as a laborer out of work would take rather than be idle]; ib. V, 4. Ib. 77ᵃ יד פ׳ על העליונה the laborer is at an advantage (v. יָד); יד פ׳ על התחתונה the laborer is at a disadvantage. Ib. 83ᵇ top פ׳ בכניסתו משלו the time needed for the laborer to go home from his work is part of his free time, i.e. must not be deducted from the hours belonging to the employer (v. הוֹצָאָה); Gen. R. s. 72; a. fr.—Pl. פּוֹעֲלִים, פּוֹעֲלִין. B. Mets. VII, 1. Ib. 89ᵇ; a. fr.—Ab. II, 15 היום … הפ׳ עצלים the day (of life) is short, the work large, and the workingmen (of the Lord) are lazy.—Pirké d’R. El. ch. XIX (ref. to Ps. XCII, 8) והציצו כל פּוֹעֲלֵי צורת וכ׳ and all workers of similitudes of sun and moon shall see that they and their work are vanity.—[Ned. 62ᵇ, v. preced. w.]