labor Definition

labour
labor
noun

1. Strenuous and prolonged work, especially of the physical kind that is done for payment.

Thesaurus: work, toil, drudgery, effort, exertion; Antonym: ease, leisure, relaxation, rest.
2. The amount of effort someone puts in to something.

Example: Despite his labours, the garden was still a mess
Form: labours (usually)
3. Working people or their productive output regarded collectively as a resource or as a political force.

Example: talks between management and labour
Thesaurus: labourers, labour force, workers, work force, hands, employees, operatives; Antonym: employers, management, capitalists.
4. The process of giving birth, especially from the point when the contractions of the uterus begin.

Thesaurus: childbirth, parturition, contractions, delivery.
(Brit)
5. The Labour Party.

Form: Labour
6a. Referring or relating to hard work;
6b. Referring or relating to working people or their productive output.

Example: joined the labour force

verb laboured, labouring

intr
1. To work hard or with difficulty.

Thesaurus: work, toil, endeavour, plod, slave, strive, struggle, suffer, sweat, travail; Antonym: idle, laze, loaf, lounge.
intr
2. To progress or move slowly and with difficulty.

Example: The old man laboured up the hill
intr
3. To spend a lot of time and effort in the hope of achieving something.

Example: laboured endlessly for Scottish devolution

Idiom: labour a point (labour the point)

To spend an excessive length of time on one particular subject or issue.

To go into one particular subject or issue in too much detail.

To keep returning to one particular subject or issue, especially in a tedious or patronizing manner and when it has already been adequately covered.

Idiom: labour under a misapprehension

To mistakenly carry on doing or thinking something without being fully aware of all the pertinent facts.

Etymology: 14c: from Latin labor.