Adjacent Words

Labor definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LA'BOR, n. [L. labor, from labo, to fail.]
1. Exertion of muscular strength, or bodily exertion which occasions weariness; particularly, the exertion of the limbs in occupations by which subsistence is obtained, as in agriculture and manufactures, in distinction from exertions of strength in play or amusements, which are denominated exercise, rather than labor. Toilsome work; pains; travail; any bodily exertion which is attended with fatigue. After the labors of the day, the farmer retires, and rest is sweet. Moderate labor contributes to health.
What is obtained by labor will of right be the property of him by whose labor it is gained.
2. Intellectual exertion; application of the mind which occasions weariness; as the labor of compiling and writing a history.
3. Exertion of mental powers, united with bodily employment; as the labors of the apostles in propagating christianity.
4. Work done, or to be done; that which requires wearisome exertion.
Being a labor of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
5. Heroic achievement; as the labors of Hercules.
6. Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth.
7. The evils of life; trials; persecution, etc.
They rest from their labors - Revelation 14.
LA'BOR, v.i. [L. laboro.]
1. To exert muscular strength; to act or move with painful effort, particularly in servile occupations; to work; to toil.
Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work - Exodus 20.
2. To exert one's powers of body or mind, or both, in the prosecution of any design; to strive; to take pains.
Labor not for the meat which perisheth. John 6.
3. To toil; to be burdened.
Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11.
4. To move with difficulty.
The stone that labors up the hill.
5. To move irregularly with little progress; to pitch and roll heavily; as a ship in a turbulent sea.
6. To be in distress; to be pressed.
- As sounding cymbals aid the laboring moon.
7. To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth.
8. To journey or march.
Make not all the people to labor thither. Josh 7.
9. To perform the duties of the pastoral office. 1 Timothy 5.
10. To perform christian offices.
To labor under, to be afflicted with; to be burdened or distressed with; as, to labor under a disease or an affliction.
LA'BOR, v.t.
1. To work at; to till; to cultivate.
The most excellent lands are lying fallow, or only labored by children.
2. To prosecute with effort; to urge; as, to labor a point or argument.
3. To form or fabricate with exertion; as, to labor arms for Troy.
4. To beat; to belabor. [The latter word is generally used.]
5. To form with toil and care; as a labored composition.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages; "there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field" [syn: labor, labour, working class, proletariat]
2: productive work (especially physical work done for wages); "his labor did not require a great deal of skill" [syn: labor, labour, toil]
3: concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child; "she was in labor for six hours" [syn: parturiency, labor, labour, confinement, lying-in, travail, childbed]
4: an organized attempt by workers to improve their status by united action (particularly via labor unions) or the leaders of this movement [syn: labor movement, trade union movement, labor]
5: a political party formed in Great Britain in 1900; characterized by the promotion of labor's interests and formerly the socialization of key industries [syn: British Labour Party, Labour Party, Labour, Labor]
6: the federal department responsible for promoting the working conditions of wage earners in the United States; created in 1913 [syn: Department of Labor, Labor Department, Labor, DoL]
7: any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted; "he prepared for great undertakings" [syn: undertaking, project, task, labor] v
1: strive and make an effort to reach a goal; "She tugged for years to make a decent living"; "We have to push a little to make the deadline!"; "She is driving away at her doctoral thesis" [syn: tug, labor, labour, push, drive]
2: work hard; "She was digging away at her math homework"; "Lexicographers drudge all day long" [syn: labor, labour, toil, fag, travail, grind, drudge, dig, moil]
3: undergo the efforts of childbirth [syn: labor, labour]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French labur, from Latin labor; perhaps akin to Latin labare to totter, labi to slip — more at sleep Date: 14th century 1. a. expenditure of physical or mental effort especially when difficult or compulsory b. (1) human activity that provides the goods or services in an economy (2) the services performed by workers for wages as distinguished from those rendered by entrepreneurs for profits c. the physical activities (as dilation of the cervix and contraction of the uterus) involved in giving birth; also the period of such labor 2. an act or process requiring labor ; task 3. a product of labor 4. a. an economic group comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages b. (1) workers employed in an establishment (2) workers available for employment c. the organizations or officials representing groups of workers 5. (usually Labour) the Labour party of the United Kingdom or of another part of the Commonwealth of Nations Synonyms: see work II. verb (labored; laboring) Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. to exert one's powers of body or mind especially with painful or strenuous effort ; work 2. to move with great effort <the truck labored up the hill> 3. to be in the labor of giving birth 4. to suffer from some disadvantage or distress <labor under a delusion> 5. of a ship to pitch or roll heavily transitive verb 1. archaic a. to spend labor on or produce by labor b. to strive to effect or achieve 2. to treat or work out in often laborious detail <labor the obvious> 3. distress, burden 4. to cause to labor III. adjective Date: 1640 1. of or relating to labor 2. capitalized of, relating to, or constituting a political party held to represent the interests of workers or made up largely of organized labor groups

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Labor La"bor, 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. God hath set Labor and rest, as day and night, to men Successive. --Milton. 2. Intellectual exertion; mental effort; as, the labor of compiling a history. 3. That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort. Being a labor of so great a difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for. --Hooker. 4. Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth. The queen's in labor, They say, in great extremity; and feared She'll with the labor end. --Shak. 5. Any pang or distress. --Shak. 6. (Naut.) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging. 7. [Sp.] A measure of land in Mexico and Texas, equivalent to an area of 1771/7 acres. --Bartlett. Syn: Work; toil; drudgery; task; exertion; effort; industry; painstaking. See Toll.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Labor La"bor, v. t. [F. labourer, L. laborare.] 1. To work at; to work; to till; to cultivate by toil. The most excellent lands are lying fallow, or only labored by children. --W. Tooke. 2. To form or fabricate with toil, exertion, or care. ``To labor arms for Troy.'' --Dryden. 3. To prosecute, or perfect, with effort; to urge stre?uously; as, to labor a point or argument. 4. To belabor; to beat. [Obs.] --Dryden.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Labor La"bor, n. (Mining.) A store or set of stopes. [Sp. Amer.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

see labour

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

la'-ber (yeghia`, `amal; kopos): The word (noun and verb) denoting hard work or "toil" (thus in the Revised Version (British and American) of De 26:7; Jos 7:3; Re 2:2) represents several Hebrew and Greek words, chiefly those above. Occasionally, as in Hab 3:17 (ma`aseh), it stands for "fruit of labor." Sometimes, in conjunction with "travail," it refers to childbirth (Ge 35:16,17, yaladh; compare 1Th 2:9; 2Th 3:8). Examples of the word in the ordinary sense are: of yeghia`, Ge 31:42; Job 39:11,16; Ps 128:2; of `amal, common in Ec 1:3,8; 2:10,11,18, etc.; of kopos, 1Co 15:58 ("your labor is not vain," etc.); 1Th 1:3 ("work of faith and labor of love"; compare Heb 6:10); 1Ti 5:17 ("labor in the word and in teaching").

See WORK; SLAVERY.

James Orr

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Toil, work, exertion, effort, pains, drudgery. 2. Travail, parturition, childbirth, delivery. II. v. n. 1. Toil, strive, drudge, work, exert one's self, take pains. 2. Suffer, be afflicted, be distressed. 3. Travail, be in travail, be in labor.

Moby Thesaurus

accouchement, activities, activity, affair, affairs, aim, always trot out, amplify, assignment, bag, be busy, be confined, be determined, be employed, bear, bear a child, bear young, belabor, birth, birth throes, birthing, blessed event, blunder, business, busywork, calve, careen, career, carry on business, cast, char, chare, charge, childbearing, childbed, childbirth, chore, commerce, commission, complete, concern, concernment, confinement, cultivate, delivery, detail, dirty work, do business, do chars, do the chores, donkeywork, dress, drive, drop, drudge, drudgery, duty, dwell on, dwell upon, effort, elaborate, employ, employees, employment, endeavor, endure, enlarge, enlarge upon, enter into detail, enterprise, errand, exercise, exertion, expand, fag, falter, farrow, fatigue, fawn, fish to fry, flounce, flounder, foal, follow a trade, function, genesis, give birth, giving birth, go into, grind, hammer away at, handiwork, handwork, hard work, harp on, hatching, have, have a baby, have a job, have young, having a baby, homework, industry, insist upon, interest, job, job of work, keep up, kitten, labor under, laborers, laboriousness, lamb, lick, lick of work, lie in, litter, lookout, lurch, make-work, manual labor, matter, matters in hand, mission, moil, moonlight, multiparity, nascency, nativity, occupation, odd job, overdo, overemphasize, overstress, pains, parturition, piece of work, pitch, pitch and plunge, plunge, practice a profession, project, pup, rat race, reel, resolve, rock, roll, scut work, seek, seethe, service, set up shop, slave, slavery, slogging, spadework, spell out, stagger, stay employed, stint, strain, strive, stroke, stroke of work, struggle, study, stumble, suffer, sway, sweat, sweat blood, swing, swot, task, tend, the Nativity, the stork, thing, things to do, thrash about, thresh over, throw, tiresome work, toil, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, transact business, travail, treadmill, tug, tumble, turn a hand, undertaking, wallop, wallow, welter, whelp, work, work at, work for, work out, workers, yean