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laboring - 3 dictionary results
ABC Family's Labor Pains
 Catch ABC Family's romantic comedy Labor Pains on 7/19 at 8/7c.
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la⋅bor

  [ley-ber]
Use laboring in a Sentence
–noun
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.
–verb (used without object)
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.
–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; ME labour < MF < L labōr- (s. of labor) work

Related forms:
la⋅bor⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
la⋅bor⋅less, adjective

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. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To laboring
la·bor   (lā'bər)   
n.  
    1. Physical or mental exertion, especially when difficult or exhausting; work. See Synonyms at work.
    2. Something produced by work.
    3. Workers considered as a group.
    4. The trade union movement, especially its officials.
  2. A specific task.
  3. A particular form of work or method of working: manual labor.
  4. Work for wages.
    1. Workers considered as a group.
    2. The trade union movement, especially its officials.
  6. Labor A political party representing workers' interests, especially in Great Britain.
  7. The process by which childbirth occurs, beginning with contractions of the uterus and ending with the expulsion of the fetus or infant and the placenta.
v.   la·bored, la·bor·ing, la·bors

v.   intr.
  1. To work; toil: labored in the fields.
  2. To strive painstakingly: labored over the needlepoint.
    1. To proceed with great effort; plod: labored up the hill.
    2. Nautical To pitch and roll.
  4. To suffer from distress or a disadvantage: labored under the misconception that others were cooperating.
  5. To undergo the efforts of childbirth.
v.   tr.
  1. To deal with in exhaustive or excessive detail; belabor: labor a point in the argument.
  2. To distress; burden: I will not labor you with trivial matters.
adj.  
  1. Of or relating to labor.
  2. Labor Of or relating to a Labor Party.

[Middle English, from Old French labour, from Latin labor.]
la'bor·er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Laboring

La"bor*ing\, a. 1. That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.

The sleep of a laboring man is sweet. --eccl. v. 12.

2. Suffering pain or grief. --Pope.

Laboring oar, the oar which requires most strength and exertion; often used figuratively; as, to have, or pull, the laboring oar in some difficult undertaking.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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ABC Family's Labor Pains
 Catch ABC Family's romantic comedy Labor Pains on 7/19 at 8/7c.
 www.ABCFamily.go.com