Labor \La"bor\ (l[=a]"b[~e]r), n. [OE. labour, OF. labour,
laber, labur, F. labeur, L. labor; cf. Gr. lamba`nein to
take, Skr. labh to get, seize.] [Written also labour.]
1. Physical toil or bodily exertion, especially when
fatiguing, irksome, or unavoidable, in distinction from
sportive exercise; hard, muscular effort directed to some
useful end, as agriculture, manufactures, and like;
servile toil; exertion; work.
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God hath set
Labor and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive. --Milton.
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2. Intellectual exertion; mental effort; as, the labor of
compiling a history.
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3. That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that
which demands effort.
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Being a labor of so great a difficulty, the exact
performance thereof we may rather wish than look
for. --Hooker.
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4. Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth.
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The queen's in labor,
They say, in great extremity; and feared
She'll with the labor end. --Shak.
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5. Any pang or distress. --Shak.
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6. (Naut.) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results
in the straining of timbers and rigging.
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7. [Sp.] A measure of land in Mexico and Texas, equivalent to
an area of 1771/7 acres. --Bartlett.
8. (Mining.) A stope or set of stopes. [Sp. Amer.]
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Syn: Work; toil; drudgery; task; exertion; effort; industry;
painstaking. See Toll.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Labor \La"bor\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Labored; p. pr. & vb. n.
Laboring.] [OE. labouren, F. labourer, L. laborare. See
Labor, n.] [Written also labour.]
1. To exert muscular strength; to exert one's strength with
painful effort, particularly in servile occupations; to
work; to toil.
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Adam, well may we labor still to dress
This garden. --Milton.
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2. To exert one's powers of mind in the prosecution of any
design; to strive; to take pains.
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3. To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's
work under conditions which make it especially hard,
wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under
a burden; to be burdened; -- often with under, and
formerly with of.
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The stone that labors up the hill. --Granville.
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The line too labors, and the words move slow.
--Pope.
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To cure the disorder under which he labored. --Sir
W. Scott.
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Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. --Matt. xi. 28
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4. To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be
in labor.
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5. (Naut.) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent
sea. --Totten.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
labour \la"bour\, n.
Same as labor; -- British spelling. [Chiefly Brit.]
[PJC]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
labour
n 1: a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work
for wages; "there is a shortage of skilled labor in this
field" [syn: labor, working class, proletariat]
2: concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of labor to
the birth of a child; "she was in labor for six hours"
[syn: parturiency, labor, confinement, lying-in, travail,
childbed]
3: a political party formed in Great Britain in 1900;
characterized by the promotion of labor's interests and
the socialization of key industries [syn: Labour Party,
Labor Party, Labor]
4: productive work (especially physical work done for wages);
"his labor did not require a great deal of skill" [syn: labor,
toil]
v 1: work hard; "She was digging away at her math homework";
"Lexicographers drudge all day long" [syn: labor, toil,
fag, travail, grind, drudge, dig, moil]
2: strive and make an effort to reach a goal; "She tugged for
years to make a decent living"; "We have to push a little
to make the deadline!"; "She is driving away at her
doctoral thesis" [syn: tug, labor, push, drive]
3: undergo the efforts of childbirth [syn: labor]
WordNet (r) 2.0
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