- Labor
- 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.
[1913 Webster]
Adam, well may we labor still to dress This garden. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
2. To exert one's powers of mind in the prosecution of any design; to strive; to take pains. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
The stone that labors up the hill. --Granville. [1913 Webster]
The line too labors, and the words move slow. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
To cure the disorder under which he labored. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. --Matt. xi. 28 [1913 Webster]
4. To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor. [1913 Webster]
5. (Naut.) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea. --Totten. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
