labour

labour
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.

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  • labour — [ labur ] n. m. • 1180; de labourer 1 ♦ Travail de labourage, façon donnée à une terre pour la retourner et l ameublir. ⇒ labourage. Labour à bras (à la bêche, à la houe). Labour à la charrue, au tracteur. Labours superficiels ou légers. Labours… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • labour — la‧bour [ˈleɪbə ǁ ər] , labor noun [uncountable] 1. work involving a lot of physical or mental effort: • The garage charges £65 an hour for labour. • those involved in repetitive, unskilled manual labour (= work that involves using your …   Financial and business terms

  • labour — (US & Austral. labor) ► NOUN 1) work, especially hard physical work. 2) workers collectively. 3) (Labour) the Labour Party. 4) the process of childbirth. ► VERB 1) work hard …   English terms dictionary

  • labour — Labour, ou labourage, Cultus agrorum, Agricultura, Aratio, Agricolatio. Qui est en labour, Ager cultus et nitidus. B. Labour de terre, Molitio agrorum. Entretenir le labour, Tenere studia agri colendi. Qui se cognoist au labour, Prudens… …   Thresor de la langue françoyse

  • labour — Labour. s. m. La façon qu on donne aux terres en les labourant. Il faut donner deux labours à cette terre. on luy a donné tant pour son labour. il luy faut payer ses labours & semences. On appelle, Chevaux de labour, Les chevaux dont on se sert… …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • labour — British English spelling of LABOR (Cf. labor) (q.v.); for spelling, see OR (Cf. or). As short for the British Labour Party it is from 1906 …   Etymology dictionary

  • labour — la bour, n. Same as {labor}; British spelling. [Chiefly Brit.] [PJC] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Labour — (spr. Labuhr), ehemalige Landschaft im südwestlichen Frankreich, Theil der Gascogne; Hauptstadt war Bayonne …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Labour — er det engelske arbejderparti …   Danske encyklopædi

  • labour — is the standard spelling in BrE, whereas labor is the standard form in AmE …   Modern English usage

  • labour — [lā′bər] n., vi., vt. Brit. sp. of LABOR …   English World dictionary

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