labor

[ ley-ber ]

/ ˈleɪ bər /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR labor ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

productive activity, especially for the sake of economic gain.

the body of persons engaged in such activity, especially those working for wages.

this body of persons considered as a class (distinguished from management and capital).

physical or mental work, especially of a hard or fatiguing kind; toil.

a job or task done or to be done.

the physical effort and periodic uterine contractions of childbirth.

the interval from the onset of these contractions to childbirth.

(initial capital letter) Also called Labor Department. Informal. the Department of Labor.

verb (used without object)

to perform labor; exert one's powers of body or mind; work; toil.

to strive, as toward a goal; work hard (often followed by for): to labor for peace.

to act, behave, or function at a disadvantage (usually followed by under): to labor under a misapprehension.

to be in the actual process of giving birth.

to roll or pitch heavily, as a ship.

verb (used with object)

to develop or dwell on in excessive detail: Don't labor the point.

to burden or tire: to labor the reader with unnecessary detail.

British Dialect. to work or till (soil or the like).

adjective

of or relating to workers, their associations, or working conditions: labor reforms.

Also especially British, la·bour.

Origin of labor

1250–1300; Middle English labour < Middle French < Latin labōr- (stem of labor) work

SYNONYMS FOR labor

2 working people, working class.

4 exertion.

6 parturition, delivery.

9 drudge.

14 overdo.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR labor ON THESAURUS.COM

ANTONYMS FOR labor

1, 4 idleness; leisure.

1, 4, 9 rest.

SEE ANTONYMS FOR labor ON THESAURUS.COM

synonym study for labor

4. See work.

historical usage of labor

The English noun labor comes into English via Old French labor, labour (French labeur ) from Latin labōr-, the inflectional stem of the noun labor “labor, work, toil.” The Latin noun has just about all the meanings of English labor (including that of childbirth), but not the relatively modern English sense “workers, manual workers taken together as a social group or class,” which dates from the 19th century.
The Latin etymology for labor is obscure: the noun may be related to the verb lābī (which has a long ā ) “to move smoothly, slide” (commonly with implication of downward movement). Lābī in its turn may be related to labāre (with a short a in the root syllable) “to be unsteady on one’s feet, falter, totter.” These derivatives of lāb- and lab- may be related to the Latin nouns labium (the source of English labial ) and labrum, both meaning “lip” and, outside Latin, to the Greek noun lobós “lobe (of the ear, liver, or lung), pod (of a vegetable), slip (of a plant)” (and source of English lobe ).

OTHER WORDS FROM labor

la·bor·ing·ly, adverb la·bor·less, adjective an·ti·la·bor, adjective non·la·bor, adjective

out·la·bor, verb (used with object) o·ver·la·bor, verb (used with object) pre·la·bor, noun, verb (used without object) pro·la·bor, adjective un·la·bor·ing, adjective

Words nearby labor

labiovelarize, labioversion, labium, lablab, labneh, labor, labor and socialist international, labor camp, labor day, labor force, labor market

Example sentences from the Web for laboring

Rescue workers had been laboring at ground zero every hour since the disaster.

The Resilient City: New York After 9/11 |John Avlon |September 11, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Bartilla is laboring with an immediate crisis with basic services.

The Tragic Exodus of Iraq’s Christians |Jamie Dettmer |June 22, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Ruettiger struggled to even get admitted to Notre Dame, laboring through junior college where he was diagnosed as dyslexic.

7 Great Football Flicks From Horse Feathers to Friday Night Lights |The Daily Beast |January 28, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The U.S. military, meanwhile, it seemed to me was laboring under an entirely different misapprehension.

What If the Iraq War Never Happened? |Michael Ware |March 20, 2013 |DAILY BEAST

He appointed a Jewish American as consul to Bucharest “for the benefit of the people who are laboring under severe oppression.”

What Happened When General Grant Expelled Civil War Jews |Marc Wortman |March 22, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
Some consideration was certainly due him for the shock he must be laboring under.

The Woman in the Alcove |Anna Katharine Green
We have been laboring for years to obtain scientific freedom, freedom in teaching, freedom in learning, freedom in expression.

Papers and Proceedings of the Twenty-Third General Meeting of the American Library Association |Various
She was very pale, and her dark eyes were gleaming as though she were laboring under strong mental excitement.

A Country Sweetheart |Dora Russell
In the engine room Washington was laboring to keep the machine at top speed.

Under the Ocean to the South Pole |Roy Rockwood
For two hundred years had men been laboring to curb and tame it.

Luther and the Reformation: |Joseph A. Seiss

British Dictionary definitions for laboring

labor

/ (ˈleɪbə) /

verb, noun

the US spelling of labour

Medical definitions for laboring

labor

[ lā′bər ]

n.

The physical efforts of expulsion of the fetus and the placenta from the uterus during parturition.

v.

To undergo the efforts of childbirth.

Scientific definitions for laboring

labor

[ lā′bər ]

The process by which the birth of a mammal occurs, beginning with contractions of the uterus and ending with the expulsion of the fetus and the placenta.

Cultural definitions for laboring

labor

The physical processes at the end of a normal pregnancy, including opening of the cervix and contractions of the uterus, that lead to the birth of the baby.

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

labor