Labor
['leɪbə(r)] or ['lebɚ]
Definition
(noun.) productive work (especially physical work done for wages); 'his labor did not require a great deal of skill'.
(noun.) a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages; 'there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field'.
(verb.) undergo the efforts of childbirth.
(verb.) work hard; 'She was digging away at her math homework'; 'Lexicographers drudge all day long'.
Edited by Joanne--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) 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.
(n.) Intellectual exertion; mental effort; as, the labor of compiling a history.
(n.) That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
(n.) Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth.
(n.) Any pang or distress.
(n.) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
(n.) A measure of land in Mexico and Texas, equivalent to an area of 177/ acres.
(n.) To exert muscular strength; to exert one's strength with painful effort, particularly in servile occupations; to work; to toil.
(n.) To exert one's powers of mind in the prosecution of any design; to strive; to take pains.
(n.) 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.
(n.) To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth.
(n.) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
(v. t.) To work at; to work; to till; to cultivate by toil.
(v. t.) To form or fabricate with toil, exertion, or care.
(v. t.) To prosecute, or perfect, with effort; to urge stre/uously; as, to labor a point or argument.
(v. t.) To belabor; to beat.
Inputed by Jenny
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Toil, work, exertion, effort, pains, drudgery.[2]. Travail, parturition, childbirth, delivery.
v. n. [1]. Toll, strive, drudge, work, exert one's self, take pains.[2]. Suffer, be afflicted, be distressed.[3]. Travail, be in travail, be in labor.
Inputed by Ezra
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream that you watch domestic animals laboring under heavy burdens, denotes that you will be prosperous, but unjust to your servants, or those employed by you. To see men toiling, signifies profitable work, and robust health. To labor yourself, denotes favorable outlook for any new enterprise, and bountiful crops if the dreamer is interested in farming.
Edited by Katy
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. One of the processes by which A acquires property for B.
Checker: Tina
Examples
- It is a scientific labor. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- I know that no end of phrases could be adduced to show the inclusiveness of the word labor. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- If it were as you say, what could be sadder than so much ardent labor all in vain? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- This labor movement has a destructive and constructive energy within it. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The socialist demand for a better distribution of wealth is of great consequence, but without a change in the very nature of labor society will not have achieved the happiness it expects. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The system of labor would have soon exhausted the soil and left the people poor. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- It is, too, an ideal for labor. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Science was valid, art was valid, the poorest grubber in a laboratory was engaged in a real labor, anyone who had found expression in some beautiful object was truly centered. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- That a certain amount of labor must be engaged in goes without saying. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- They are all labor-saving machines themselves, every one of 'em. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- And had she not wished to marry him that she might help him in his life's labor? George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- This labor would support but a very limited percentage of them. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- Labor in loneliness is irksome. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- The descent of the mountain was a labor of only four minutes. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- It's only the first labor, which is almost always protracted. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- His labors, however, were interrupt ed by the death of his assistant Flemming, and by his own illness, which proved fatal in 1846, a few months before the actual discovery of Neptune. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Such is the condition of our laws and practice that the patentee in seeking to enforce his rights labors under a terrible handicap. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Thou hast done nobly, my son, said he, and thy labors will serve the interests of our Mother Church. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- Miss Ophelia still persevered in her labors in the housekeeping line. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- All the men who could be employed, were kept at work from early dawn until darkness closed the labors of the day. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- At one time the Astronomer Royal had felt very skeptical about the possibility of the discovery which his own labors had contributed to advance. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Imagination labors best in distant fields. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- In the sentence I quote the Commissioners had an idea which might have animated all their labors. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Then Jehu, the good missionary, rested from his labors once more. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- When I had entered he was sweeping the shop, and he had sweetened his labors by sweeping over me. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Cuvier said, Davy, not yet thirty-two, in the opinion of all who could judge of such labors, held the first rank among the chemists of this or of any other age. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- After these tiresome labors, she must do her lessons, which was a daily trial of every virtue she possessed. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- I leave you to your military labors. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- A couple of hours at Day's Music Hall in the evening would do you no harm after your labors. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- These labors are not done in a day. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Editor: Yvonne