| labor (def. 8). |
[ley-ber] 
| 1. | productive activity, esp. for the sake of economic gain. |
| 2. | the body of persons engaged in such activity, esp. those working for wages. |
| 3. | this body of persons considered as a class (distinguished from management and capital ). |
| 4. | physical or mental work, esp. of a hard or fatiguing kind; toil. |
| 5. | a job or task done or to be done. |
| 6. | the physical effort and periodic uterine contractions of childbirth. |
| 7. | the interval from the onset of these contractions to childbirth. |
| 8. | (initial capital letter ) Also called Labor Department. Informal. the Department of Labor. |
| 9. | to perform labor; exert one's powers of body or mind; work; toil. |
| 10. | to strive, as toward a goal; work hard (often fol. by for): to labor for peace. |
| 11. | to act, behave, or function at a disadvantage (usually fol. 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. |
| 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). |
| 17. | of or pertaining to workers, their associations, or working conditions: labor reforms. |
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.
| 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. |