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Webster 1913 Edition

Labor

La′bor

(lā′bẽr)
,
Noun.
[OE.
labour
, OF.
labour
,
laber
,
labur
, F.
labeur
, L.
labor
; cf. Gr.
λαμβάνειν
to take, Skr.
labh
to get, seize.]
[Written also
labour
.]
1.
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.
God hath set
Labor
and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive.
Milton.
2.
Intellectual exertion; mental effort;
as, the
labor
of compiling a history
.
3.
That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
Being a
labor
of so great a difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
Hooker.
4.
Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth.
The queen’s in
labor
,
They say, in great extremity; and feared
She'll with the
labor
end.
Shakespeare
5.
Any pang or distress.
Shak.
6.
(Naut.)
The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
Syn. – Work; toil; drudgery; task; exertion; effort; industry; painstaking. See
Toll
.

La′bor

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Labored
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Laboring
.]
[OE.
labouren
, F.
labourer
, L.
laborare
. See
Labor
,
Noun.
]
[Written also
labour
.]
1.
To exert muscular strength; to exert one's strength with painful effort, particularly in servile occupations; to work; to toil.
Adam, well may we
labor
still to dress
This garden.
Milton.
2.
To exert one's powers of mind in the prosecution of any design; to strive; to take pains.
3.
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.
The stone that
labors
up the hill.
Granville.
The line too
labors
, and the words move slow.
Pope.
To cure the disorder under which he
labored
.
Sir W. Scott.
Come unto me, all ye that
labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matt. xi. 28
4.
To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.
5.
(Naut.)
To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
Totten.

La′bor

,
Verb.
T.
[F.
labourer
, L.
laborare
.]
1.
To work at; to work; to till; to cultivate by toil.
The most excellent lands are lying fallow, or only
labored
by children.
W. Tooke.
2.
To form or fabricate with toil, exertion, or care.
“To labor arms for Troy.”
Dryden.
3.
To prosecute, or perfect, with effort; to urge strenuously;
as, to
labor
a point or argument
.
4.
To belabor; to beat.
[Obs.]
Dryden.

Webster 1828 Edition

Labor

LA'BOR

,
Noun.
[L. labor, from labo, to fail.]
1.
Exertion of muscular strength, or bodily exertion which occasions weariness; particularly, the exertion of the limbs in occupations by which subsistence is obtained, as in agriculture and manufactures, in distinction from exertions of strength in play or amusements, which are denominated exercise, rather than labor. Toilsome work; pains; travail; any bodily exertion which is attended with fatigue. After the labors of the day, the farmer retires, and rest is sweet. Moderate labor contributes to health.
What is obtained by labor will of right be the property of him by whose labor it is gained.
2.
Intellectual exertion; application of the mind which occasions weariness; as the labor of compiling and writing a history.
3.
Exertion of mental powers, united with bodily employment; as the labors of the apostles in propagating christianity.
4.
Work done, or to be done; that which requires wearisome exertion.
Being a labor of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
5.
Heroic achievement; as the labors of Hercules.
6.
Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth.
7.
The evils of life; trials; persecution, &c.
They rest from their labors - Rev. 14.

LA'BOR

,
Verb.
I.
[L. laboro.]
1.
To exert muscular strength; to act or move with painful effort, particularly in servile occupations; to work; to toil.
Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work - Ex. 20.
2.
To exert one's powers of body or mind, or both, in the prosecution of any design; to strive; to take pains.
Labor not for the meat which perisheth. John 6.
3.
To toil; to be burdened.
Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matt. 11.
4.
To move with difficulty.
The stone that labors up the hill.
5.
To move irregularly with little progress; to pitch and roll heavily; as a ship in a turbulent sea.
6.
To be in distress; to be pressed.
- As sounding cymbals aid the laboring moon.
7.
To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth.
8.
To journey or march.
Make not all the people to labor thither. Josh. 7.
9.
To perform the duties of the pastoral office. 1Tim. 5.
10.
To perform christian offices.
To labor under, to be afflicted with; to be burdened or distressed with; as, to labor under a disease or an affliction.

LA'BOR

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To work at; to till; to cultivate.
The most excellent lands are lying fallow, or only labored by children.
2.
To prosecute with effort; to urge; as, to labor a point or argument.
3.
To form or fabricate with exertion; as, to labor arms for Troy.
4.
To beat; to belabor. [The latter word is generally used.]
5.
To form with toil and care; as a labored composition.

Definition 2024

Labor

Labor

See also: labor

English

Proper noun

Labor

  1. (Australia, informal) The Australian Labor Party.
    • 1970, Australian Institute of International Affairs, Institute of Pacific Relations, Australia and the Pacific, page 10,
      Nevertheless there is a distinct difference of emphasis, in the sense just indicated, between the two sides of Australian politics. There has always been some international isolationism, too, in Labor circles in Australia.
    • 1984, David Harris Solomon, Australia′s Government and Parliament, page 102,
      Labor did not regain office until 1929, and then only for a three-year period.
    • 1995, Brian Galligan, A Federal Republic: Australia′s Constitutional System of Government, page 109,
      Labor’s formal reconciliation with the federal Constitution during the postwar decades has been a significant development both for the ALP and for Australian politics generally.
  2. (US, Australia) Misspelling of Labour. (UK political party)

Usage notes

While it is standard practice in Australian English to spell the word labour with a letter u, the Party has spelt it without since 1912, when then Labour cabinet minister King O'Malley advocated the change to Labor Party. At the time, it seemed likely that Australia would move to American spellings.

Anagrams

German

Etymology

Shortened from Laboratorium, from Latin labōrātōrium.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [laˈboːɐ̯]
  • Rhymes: -oːɐ̯

Noun

Labor n ‎(genitive Labors, plural Labore or Labors)

  1. laboratory

Derived terms

labor

labor

See also: Labor

English

Noun

labor ‎(countable and uncountable, plural labors)

  1. American standard spelling of labour.

Derived terms

Verb

labor ‎(third-person singular simple present labors, present participle laboring, simple past and past participle labored)

  1. American standard spelling of labour.

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin labor

Noun

labor m ‎(plural labors)

  1. labour, work

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowing from German Labor.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈlɒbor]
  • Hyphenation: la‧bor

Noun

labor ‎(plural laborok)

  1. laboratory

Declension

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative labor laborok
accusative labort laborokat
dative labornak laboroknak
instrumental laborral laborokkal
causal-final laborért laborokért
translative laborrá laborokká
terminative laborig laborokig
essive-formal laborként laborokként
essive-modal — —
inessive laborban laborokban
superessive laboron laborokon
adessive labornál laboroknál
illative laborba laborokba
sublative laborra laborokra
allative laborhoz laborokhoz
elative laborból laborokból
delative laborról laborokról
ablative labortól laboroktól
Possessive forms of labor
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. laborom laborjaim
2nd person sing. laborod laborjaid
3rd person sing. laborja laborjai
1st person plural laborunk laborjaink
2nd person plural laborotok laborjaitok
3rd person plural laborjuk laborjaik

Synonyms

References

  1. ↑ Tótfalusi István, Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára. Tinta Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 2005, ISBN 963 7094 20 2

Latin

Etymology 1

Of uncertain origin.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈla.bor/, [ˈɫa.bɔr]

Noun

labor m ‎(genitive labōris); third declension

  1. work
  2. labour
  3. illness
Inflection

Third declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative labor labōrēs
genitive labōris labōrum
dative labōrī labōribus
accusative labōrem labōrēs
ablative labōre labōribus
vocative labor labōrēs
Derived terms
Descendants
  • Romanian: laboare
  • Romansch: lavur
  • Sicilian: lavuru
  • Spanish: labor
  • Venetian: łavóro, laóro

Etymology 2

From Proto-Indo-European *leh₂b- ‎(“to hang loosely”).

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈlaː.bor/, [ˈɫaː.bɔr]

Verb

lābor ‎(present infinitive lābī, perfect active lāpsus sum); third conjugation, deponent

  1. I slip
  2. I glide, flow
Inflection

This verb takes the future passive participle lābundus instead of *lābendus.

   Conjugation of labor (third conjugation, deponent)
indicative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present lābor lāberis, lābere lābitur lābimur lābiminī lābuntur
imperfect lābēbar lābēbāris, lābēbāre lābēbātur lābēbāmur lābēbāminī lābēbantur
future lābar lābēris, lābēre lābētur lābēmur lābēminī lābentur
perfect lāpsus + present active indicative of sum
pluperfect lāpsus + imperfect active indicative of sum
future perfect lāpsus + future active indicative of sum
subjunctive singular plural
first second third first second third
active present lābar lābāris, lābāre lābātur lābāmur lābāminī lābantur
imperfect lāberer lāberēris, lāberēre lāberētur lāberēmur lāberēminī lāberentur
perfect lāpsus + present active subjunctive of sum
pluperfect lāpsus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum
imperative singular plural
first second third first second third
active present — lābere — — lābiminī —
future — lābitor lābitor — — lābuntor
non-finite forms active passive
present perfect future present perfect future
infinitives lābī lāpsus esse lāpsūrus esse — — —
participles lābēns lāpsus lāpsūrus — — lābundus
verbal nouns gerund supine
nominative genitive dative/ablative accusative accusative ablative
lābī lābendī lābendō lābendum lāpsum lāpsū
Derived terms
Descendants

References

  • labor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • labor in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • LABOR in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
  • Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • to exert oneself very energetically in a matter: multum operae ac laboris consumere in aliqua re
    • the matter involves much labour and fatigue: res est multi laboris et sudoris
    • to spare no pains: labori, operae non parcere
    • not to leave off work for an instant: nullum tempus a labore intermittere
    • to spare oneself the trouble of the voyage: labore supersedēre (itineris) (Fam. 4. 2. 4)
    • capable of exertion: patiens laboris
    • lazy: fugiens laboris
    • to take a false step: per errorem labi, or simply labi
    • to make a slip of the memory: memoriā labi
    • to make a mistake in writing: labi in scribendo
    • immorality is daily gaining ground: mores in dies magis labuntur (also with ad, e.g. ad mollitiem)
    • (ambiguous) to drain the cup of sorrow: omnes labores exanclare
    • (ambiguous) rest after toil is sweet: acti labores iucundi (proverb.)
  • labor in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin labor, labōrem.

Noun

labor f ‎(plural labores)

  1. job
  2. work
  3. labor

Related terms

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈleɪ.bɚ/
  • Rhymes: -eɪbə(r)

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