# labor

Pronunciation: US say "LAY-bur" /ˈleɪ.bɚ/; UK say "LAY-buh" /ˈleɪ.bə/

## Noun

1. Work or effort, especially hard and tiring work; also a task that takes such work, as in 'a labor of love'.
   - Simple: Hard work, or a job that takes a lot of effort.
   - _The estimate for the new roof covers both materials and labor._
   - _After the harvest, the farmhands finally rested from their labors._
2. Workers considered as a group, such as the workforce or the working class, and sometimes more narrowly the organized labor movement.
   - Simple: Working people as a group, and sometimes the unions that speak for them.
   - _Relations between labor and management improved after the new contract was signed._
   - _Organized labor campaigned hard for a higher minimum wage._
3. The process of giving birth to a child, or the time it takes.
   - Simple: The process of a mother giving birth, or the time it takes.
   - _Doctors decided to induce labor because the baby was two weeks overdue._
   - _She was in labor for fourteen hours before her son was born._
5. A political party or force that aims, or claims, to represent the interests of workers.
   - Simple: A political party or group that says it works for the good of working people.
   - _Labor's share of the vote rose sharply in the industrial towns._
   - _Labor walked out of the coalition over the budget, and the government fell._

## Verb

4. To do work, especially hard and tiring work.
   - Simple: To work, usually very hard and with a lot of effort.
   - _Her grandparents labored in the vineyards from dawn to dusk._
   - _Editors labor over every sentence before the magazine goes to print._
7. To struggle under difficulties or move slowly with great effort, as a ship pitching and rolling in rough seas.
   - Simple: To have a hard time or move slowly with great effort, like a ship in a storm.
   - _For years the small airline labored under heavy debt and rising fuel costs._
   - _Heavily loaded trucks labor up the mountain pass at walking speed._
8. To go through the pains of childbirth.
   - Simple: To feel the pain of giving birth to a baby.
   - _She labored for nineteen hours before the doctors decided on a cesarean._
   - _Midwives encourage mothers to walk around while they labor._
9. To stress or expand on a point, as in a debate or discussion, at more length than it needs.
   - Simple: To keep talking about a point more than you need to.
   - _Lawyers who labor a minor point risk losing the jury's attention._
   - _The senator labored her point about the deficit long after the audience had grasped it._

## Proper noun · Labor

6. The Australian Labor Party, a major political party in Australia. *(Australia)*
   - Simple: The Australian Labor Party, a big political party in Australia.
   - _Labor has traditionally drawn much of its support from Australia's trade unions and working-class suburbs._
   - _Whenever Labor forms government in Canberra, its leader becomes Australia's prime minister._

## Noun

10. A group of moles, the small burrowing mammals. *(rare)*
   - Simple: A group of moles, the small animals that dig tunnels under the ground.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The pitching or tossing of a ship that strains its timbers and rigging.
- (noun) A former unit of land area in Mexico and Texas, equal to 177.1 acres or 71.67 hectares.

## Origin

From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin labōrāre ("to work, strive, suffer"), from labor ("toil, work"). It replaced the native English word swink.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/labor (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).