Webster's English Dictionary

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labor

Cross references:
  1. work                  
 
1. la.bor or la.bour \'la--b*r\ n [ME, fr. OF, fr. L labor] chiefly Brit  
   1a: expenditure of physical or mental effort esp. when difficult or compuls 
   ory 1b1: human activity that provides the goods or services in an economy  
   1b2: the services performed by workers for wages as distinguished from thos 
   e rendered by entrepreneurs for profits 1c1: the physical activities 
   involved in parturition  1c2: the period of such labor  2: an act or 
   process requiring labor : TASK  3: a product of labor  4a: an economic 
   group comprising those who do manual labor or work for wage s 4b: workers 
   employed in an establishment or available for employment  4c: the 
   organizations or officials representing groups of workers  usu Labour  5: 
   the Labour party of the United Kingdom or of another nation of the Briti sh 
   Commonwealth
2. labor or labour \-b(*-)rin\ \-b*r-*r, -br*r\ vb or la.bor.ing chiefly 
   Brit  1: to exert one's powers of body or mind esp. with painful or 
   strenuous ef fort : WORK 2: to move with great effort  3: to be in the 
   labor of giving birth  4: to suffer from some disadvantage or distress {~ 
   under a delusio n} of a ship  5: to pitch or roll heavily  archaic  1a: to 
   spend labor on or produce by labor  1b: to strive to effect or achieve  2: 
   to treat or work out in often laborious detail {~ the obvious> 3: BURDEN, 
   DISTRESS  4: to cause to labor  - la.bor.er n
3. labor aj 1: of or relating to labor  cap  2: of, relating to, or 
   constituting a political party held to represent th e interests of 
   workingmen or characterized by a membership in which organized labor groups 
   predominate