labour

labour
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. [1913 Webster]

God hath set Labor and rest, as day and night, to men Successive. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

2. Intellectual exertion; mental effort; as, the labor of compiling a history. [1913 Webster]

3. That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort. [1913 Webster]

Being a labor of so great a difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for. --Hooker. [1913 Webster]

4. Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth. [1913 Webster]

The queen's in labor, They say, in great extremity; and feared She'll with the labor end. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5. Any pang or distress. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

6. (Naut.) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging. [1913 Webster]

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}. [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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