# labour

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

## Noun

1. The effort, especially hard effort, that goes into a particular task or piece of work.
   - Simple: The work and effort you put into doing a job.
   - _Years of labour went into restoring the old farmhouse._
   - _The garage charged us for the parts and two hours of labour._
2. Workers considered as a group, the workforce or working class, and sometimes specifically the organised labour movement.
   - Simple: Workers as a group, or the people who work for wages.
   - _The factory moved abroad in search of cheap labour._
   - _Talks between management and labour broke down over the weekend._
4. The process by which a mother gives birth, or the period of time during which she does so.
   - Simple: The process of giving birth to a baby, or the time it takes.
   - _She went into labour two weeks before her due date._
   - _Her first labour lasted fourteen hours._
5. A political party or movement, in any country, that aims, or claims, to represent the interests of working people, thought of as an organisation rather than as the workers themselves.
   - Simple: A political party or group that says it speaks for working people.
   - _The new coalition brought together labour and the liberal centre._
   - _Across Europe, the early twentieth century saw labour emerge as a political force in its own right._
7. A task or undertaking that needs hard work and great effort to carry out.
   - Simple: A job or task that needs a lot of hard work.
   - _Restoring the clock was a long labour, but she finished it in the end._
   - _Compiling the parish records proved a labour of many years._
12. The heavy pitching and tossing of a ship that puts strain on its timbers and rigging.
   - Simple: The hard rocking of a ship in rough water, which strains its wood and ropes.

## Proper noun · Labour

3. Short for the Labour Party. — Short for the Labour Party.
   - Simple: Short for the Labour Party. People use this short name in the news and in everyday talk.
   - _Labour held the seat comfortably at the by-election._
   - _She has voted Labour all her life._

## Verb

6. To do hard work, especially steady physical effort over a long time.
   - Simple: To work hard, often using your body.
   - _Farmworkers labour in the fields from dawn until dusk at harvest time._
   - _He laboured for years on a novel that was never published._
8. To struggle: to suffer under difficulties or illness, to work in especially hard or tiring conditions, or to move slowly against resistance or under a load.
   - Simple: To have a hard time because of problems or illness, or to move slowly with great effort.
   - _Nurses on the ward labour under huge pressure because of staff shortages._
   - _The old lorry laboured up the steep hill in first gear._
9. To go through the pains and effort of giving birth.
   - Simple: To go through the pain and hard work of having a baby.
   - _She laboured for eighteen hours before the baby arrived._
   - _Women who choose to labour at home are supported by a midwife._
10. To dwell on or keep stressing a point, as in a debate, at greater length than is needed.
   - Simple: To keep talking about a point after people already understand it.
   - _I don't want to labour the point, but the report is due on Friday._
   - _The minister laboured the point for twenty minutes while the chamber grew restless._
11. Of a ship, to pitch or roll heavily, as in a rough sea.
   - Simple: Of a ship, to move up and down and from side to side heavily in rough seas.
   - _The old trawler laboured in the heavy swell off the Scottish coast._
   - _Overloaded ships labour badly when a gale blows up._

## Noun

13. A collective name for a group of moles. *(rare)*
   - Simple: The word for a group of moles, the small animals that live and dig underground.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–5, 7, 12–13** — Middle English had it as labor or labour, taken from Old French labor (labeur in modern French) and from Latin labor, the word the French came from.
**Meanings 6, 8–11** — From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin laborare ("to labour, strive, exert oneself, suffer; to work out"), from labor ("toil, work, exertion"), perhaps remotely related to robur ("strength"). It replaced the native English word swink ("toil").

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