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labor

[ley-ber]

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noun

productive activity, especially for the sake of economic gain.

the body of persons engaged in such activity, especially those working for wages.

this body of persons considered as a class (distinguished from management and capital).

physical or mental work, especially of a hard or fatiguing kind; toil.

a job or task done or to be done.

EXPAND

the physical effort and periodic uterine contractions of childbirth.

the interval from the onset of these contractions to childbirth.

(initial capital letter) Also called Labor Department. Informal. the Department of Labor.

COLLAPSE

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verb (used without object)

to perform labor; exert one's powers of body or mind; work; toil.

10.

to strive, as toward a goal; work hard (often followed by for): to labor for peace.

11.

to act, behave, or function at a disadvantage (usually followed by under): to labor under a misapprehension.

12.

to be in the actual process of giving birth.

13.

to roll or pitch heavily, as a ship.

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Labor is one of our favorite verbs.

So is kibitz. Does it mean:

chat, to converse

to flee; abscond:

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used with object)

14.

to develop or dwell on in excessive detail: Don't labor the point.

15.

to burden or tire: to labor the reader with unnecessary detail.

16.

British Dialect. to work or till (soil or the like).

adjective

17.

of or pertaining to workers, their associations, or working conditions: labor reforms.

Also, especially British, labour.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English labour < Middle French < Latin labōr- (stem of labor) work

Related forms

la·bor·ing·ly, adverb

la·bor·less, adjective

an·ti·la·bor, adjective

non·la·bor, adjective

out·la·bor, verb (used with object)

EXPAND

o·ver·la·bor, verb (used with object)

pre·la·bor, noun, verb (used without object)

pro·la·bor, adjective

un·la·bor·ing, adjective

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
2. working people, working class. 4. exertion. See work. 6. parturition, delivery. 9. drudge. 14. overdo.

Antonyms
1, 4. idleness; leisure. 1, 4, 9. rest.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To labor

Example Sentences

History has proven that all sports labor conflicts are ultimately solved.

Students fighting against the use of sweatshop labor to manufacture apparel and other college-licensed products have a new target.

Oil money and government or government-controlled jobs, augmented by lower labor costs.

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History has proven that all sports labor conflicts are ultimately solved.

Students fighting against the use of sweatshop labor to manufacture apparel and other college-licensed products have a new target.

Oil money and government or government-controlled jobs, augmented by lower labor costs.

As a result, decentralized composting has lower startup costs, but is more labor intensive.

The division of labor by the two cerebral hemispheres-once thought to be uniquely human-predates us by half a billion years.

He was a racist, incapable of rising above the thought of his time and place, and willing to profit from slave labor.

Cheryl's grandson proudly shows off the fruits of labor at his grandparents' house.

The plan is for the bots to to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency.

The reality is that our food production system depends on the exploitation of its labor force.

It allows people to reap the rewards of their labor.

Lithography allowed cartographers to make many accurate copies of maps with less labor and expense.

The key to solving the problem is the deliberate creation of a labor shortage.

If you think about that, girls growing up on a farm would have been accustomed to physical labor.

Creating consistently spaced holes adds to the time and labor.

In addition to managing labor costs, nurseries are concerned about labor availability.

But the decline in their fortunes points to a signature outcome of the long downturn in the labor market.

Yes, both uteruses go into labor at the same time, so the babies would likely be born within minutes of one another.

The boy's spine and teeth were damaged from hard labor or disease.

Improving even a moderate-size planting bed thus requires a great deal of heavy sand and heavy labor.

For many decades now, unfair and unjust foreign trade agreements and policies, have worked against our labor force.

The roots of prejudice grew from the seeds planted dehumanizing people who were needed as commodities of labor.

These soft dumplings cooked in maple syrup must have made for good comfort food after a hard day of labor.

The older stems are still tasty, but woodier, requiring more labor in the kitchen.

Labor is more or less priced at its value to society, not at an arbitrary price set by the labor itself.

Since its discovery, electricity has helped humans make labor and tools more efficient.

Beyond all the labor involved, growing vegetables requires vigilance.

Zach would pay for materials, and his parents would cover labor.

They don't physically install counter tops because they have the ability to design and they hire people to do manual labor.

We could have a world market for such a product and our labor force would have cleaner and safer jobs.

No talking above a whisper and no lights except for the ranger's red light as the mother goes about her labor.

That's bad for commercial growers, who want everything to fruit at once to reduce labor costs.

Deregulating the labor market is only going to be anti-inflationary in the labor market, not the broader market.

But the gathering of the knowledge that informs the simulation has been the patient labor of years.

My main tactic was deception, which involved introducing barley threshing as a new hip party game and some minor child labor.

Since labor mobility is a good thing, it's a bad thing that our system is making workers contemplate this.

It's amazing how much labor was involved by so many to arrive as these discoveries.

The stark botanical labels hinted at the labor and eccentric vision that lay behind the garden.

Stepped-up border enforcement has exacerbated a labor shortage for the agriculture industry.

For some people, getting quickly through programs that provide solid labor market credentials is by far the best strategy.

Bloomberg moves to cut the city's budget, labor leaders warn they will put up a fight if municipal workers are affected.

They create an undermarket of labor that drives wages down.

Their labor force participation has particularly important implications for the aggregate labor supply.

The law mandates that victims be paid the gross income of the value of their labor during the length of their captivity.

Now the team is showing abundant fruit from its labor.

The farmers are willing to pay up because they've been rattled by a labor shortage over the past few years.

McLaughlin, a labor leader whose group backed the mayor's re-election campaign.

Academic labor has lost a lot of ground, and fast, in the last few decades.

Previously, labor was excessively cheap because workers could be replaced easily.

But cheap labor isn't always best for long-term development.

It will always be easier to make organic brains by unskilled labor than to create a machine-based artificial intelligence.

But the holiday's origins are ancient, and have little to do with labor or politics.

The savings come from lower labor costs, lower-valued currencies, and generous incentives offered by foreign governments.

Several pending trade pacts have dissolved in a burst of charges and countercharges over the issue of labor rights.

They use more labor because the relative cost of labor has declined during the boom due to inflation.

While seeds can be spread directly onto the land, saving labor cost and time, this results in far lower crop yields.

While she backed a number of causes-from antislavery and labor reform to the temperance.

Unskilled labor therefore has to compete against unskilled labor worldwide.

From the looks of it, this monopsony can only be broken by introducing new demanders for labor into the labor market.

In colleges that have master's and doctoral programs, graduate students are regularly used as cheap teaching labor.

The new rolls were inspired by building managers who sought to reduce runouts and labor costs.

Ours are based on a detailed division of labor and cooperation between genetically unrelated individuals in large groups.

And malaria can stifle foreign investment, depress tourism and hinder the movement of labor between regions.

Too late to abort, she was rushed to the hospital for an induced labor.

Consumer confidence is down being there has not been increase in the labor market.

And the project's immense scale suggests a huge labor force.

Population is also the another strength for growth which provide cheap labor.

Tag-and-recapture methods are too labor intensive for large-scale surveys.

Exercise a the tool that replaces the strenuous activity it took to survive before hard labor was replaced with machines.

The labor codes want to ensure health and wellness by encouraging breaks, eating meals and socializing.

At great expense and labor they were transported across miles of sand and wasteland to his oasis tomb.

They have to have slave labor and free land and they had to take over countries and that meant brutal tactics.

The rehab process takes years and is extremely labor intensive.

Welfare should be limited to labor opportunities where private employment isn't viable.

The cultural fisher milieu prevents this addiction from being anything but a labor of love.

Jasminka now works as a janitor for a local labor union.

Cotton was labor intensive--it was planted, cultivated, and picked by hand.

The level of manual labor is astonishing, as is the attention to detail.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

labor (ˈleɪbə)

—vb, —n
	the US spelling of labour

labour or labor (ˈleɪbə)

—n
1.	productive work, esp physical toil done for wages
2.	a. the people, class, or workers involved in this, esp in contrast to management, capital, etc
	b. (as modifier): a labour dispute; labour relations
3.	a. difficult or arduous work or effort
	b. (in combination): labour-saving
4.	a particular job or task, esp of a difficult nature
5.	a. the process or effort of childbirth or the time during which this takes place
	b. (as modifier): labour pains
6.	labour of love something done for pleasure rather than gain

—vb (usually foll by under)
7.	(intr) to perform labour; work
8.	(intr; foll by for, etc) to strive or work hard (for something)
9.	to be burdened (by) or be at a disadvantage (because of): to labour under a misapprehension
10.	(intr) to make one's way with difficulty
11.	(tr) to deal with or treat too persistently: to labour a point
12.	(intr) (of a woman) to be in labour
13.	(intr) (of a ship) to pitch and toss

[C13: via Old French from Latin labor; perhaps related to lābī to fall]

labor or labor

—n

—vb

[C13: via Old French from Latin labor; perhaps related to lābī to fall]

'labouringly or labor

—*adv*

'laboringly or labor

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

labor

c.1300, "exertion of the body," from O.Fr. labour (Fr. labeur), from L. laborem (nom. labor) "toil, pain, exertion, fatigue, work," perhaps originally "tottering under a burden," related to labere "to totter." The verb is c.1300, from M.Fr. labourer, from L. laborare, from labor. The verb in modern

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Fr., Sp., Port. means "to plow;" the wider sense being taken by the equivalent of Eng. travail. Meaning "body of laborers considered as a class" (usually contrasted to capitalists) is from 1839. Sense of "physical exertions of childbirth" is 1595, from Fr. en travail "in (childbirth) suffering" (see travail). Labor Day first marked 1882 in New York City.

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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

labor la·bor (lā'bər)
n.
The physical efforts of expulsion of the fetus and the placenta from the uterus during parturition. v. la·bored, la·bor·ing, la·bors
To undergo the efforts of childbirth.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

labor (lā'bər) Pronunciation Key
The process by which the birth of a mammal occurs, beginning with contractions of the uterus and ending with the expulsion of the fetus and the placenta.

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

labor definition

The physical processes at the end of a normal pregnancy, including opening of the cervix and contractions of the uterus, that lead to the birth of the baby.

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