melakhah

Any of the types of work forbidden on Shabbat.

Thus, carrying an overcoat over one's shoulder is a melakhah, but wearing one is not.

Most categories of m'lakhah (activities prohibited on Shabbat and Yom Kippur) are also prohibited on the three pilgrimage festivals and Rosh ha-Shanah.

Labor in general.

The Bible and even the rabbis had a highly positive view of melakhah and some even viewed it as a mitzvah. The prophet Isaiah declares that God teaches the farmers how to farm.