Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Chiefly Brit. Same as labor; -- British spelling.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
  • noun uncountable Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
  • noun uncountable A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
  • noun The act of a mother giving birth.
  • noun The time period during which a mother gives birth.
  • verb intransitive To toil, to work.
  • verb transitive To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun productive work (especially physical work done for wages)
  • noun concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
  • noun a political party formed in Great Britain in 1900; characterized by the promotion of labor's interests and formerly the socialization of key industries
  • verb undergo the efforts of childbirth
  • verb strive and make an effort to reach a goal
  • verb work hard
  • noun a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin laborare ("(intransitive) to labor, strive, exert onself, suffer, be in distress, (transitive) to work out, elaborate"), from labor ("labor, toil, work, exertion"); perhaps remotely akin to robur ("strength").

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