The popular grammarian Edwin Newman chided a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court for writing "to say more would belabor the obvious," stating: "To belabor the obvious is to hit it, which hardly seems like judicial conduct." Edwin Newman, Foreword to Morton S. Freeman, A Treasury for Word Lovers viii (1983).
In fact, though, the figurative sense of "belabor" so vastly predominates over the literal one that it should be accepted as standard -- e.g.: o "Throughout the summer of 1954, broadcasters and editors belabored the story." James J. Kilpatrick, "Ghost of Dr. Sam Will Walk with O.J. Out the Door," State J.-Register (Springfield, Ill.), 11 Oct. 1994, at 4.