Definition of "labour"

labour

/ˈleɪ.bə/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural labours
1. Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
  Quotations
  […] So I ſet myſelf to enlarge my Cave and Works farther into the Earth; for it was a looſe ſandy Rock, which yielded eaſily to the Labour I beſtowed on it […]
  1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], 3rd edition, London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], published 1719, page 78
2. That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
  Quotations
  Being a labour of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
  1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, (please specify the page)
3. (uncountable) Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
  Quotations
  In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, pages 364–365
4. (uncountable) A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
5. (medicine, obstetrics) The act of a mother giving birth.
6. The time period during which a mother gives birth.
7. (nautical) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
8. (historical) A traditional unit of area in Mexico and Texas, equivalent to 177.1 acres or 71.67 ha.
  Quotations
  the establishment of a new settlement are entitled to five sitios of grazing land, and five labors (equal to 23,025 acres)
  1841, William Kennedy, Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas
9. (uncommon, zoology) A group of moles.
verb
third-person singular simple present labours, present participle labouring, simple past and past participle laboured
1. (intransitive) To toil, to work.
  Quotations
  Standing on the mountain above Caerphilly, one may reflect upon the gap where once stood Llanbradach Viaduct, and look near at hand upon the restored ruins of Caerphilly Castle; man labours to rebuild the mediaeval whilst he ruthlessly scraps the modern.
  1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in Railway Magazine, page 165
  "Crab" 2-6-0 No 42802 labours up to Beattock Summit with a northbound freight from Carlisle in August 1960.
  1961 May, “Beattock Interlude”, in Trains Illustrated, page 287, photo caption
2. (transitive) To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).
  Quotations
  It is needless to labor a point which is so well known. Everyone understands and appreciates the joy of finding that the long darkness is giving way, that the Sun is growing in strength, and that the days are winning a victory over the nights.
  1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 36
3. To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard or wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden.
  Quotations
  the stone that labours up the hill
  1726, George Granville, Love
  The line too labours, and the words move slow.
  1709, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W. Lewis […], published 1711
  to cure the disorder under which he laboured
  1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co.
4. To suffer the pangs of childbirth.
5. (nautical) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
  Quotations
  the ship laboured so much, and took in so much water in her upper works, that we could neither eat, nor sleep dry
  1808, William Gilpin, Memoirs of Josias Rogers, Esq

Definition of "labour"

labour

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