laboring

1. 1
   working hardverb

   Present participle and gerund of labor.

   Miners were laboring deep underground when the alarm sounded.

   Laboring through the night, the crew finally repaired the broken pump.

   Note

   The American spelling of the -ing form: labor is the US standard spelling of labour, so where labour is preferred the form is labouring. One spelling does three jobs. It is the progressive verb (were laboring), the noun for toil itself, which even takes a plural, laborings, and an adjective that can be graded, more laboring. Party names follow their own spelling. Britain's party is Labour, and writing it Labor is a misspelling, while Australia's is the Labor Party.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of working hard, or the work that has been accomplished by it.

   The finished cathedral reflected generations of skilled laboring by local masons.

   Their patient laboring transformed the barren lot into a thriving garden.

   Similartoil, work, effort, exertion

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