Labor (lāb&etilde_;r), n. [OE. labour, OF. labour, laber, labur, F. labeur, L. labor; cf. Gr. lambanein 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.[1913 Webster]
God hath setLabor and rest, as day and night, to menSuccessive.
2. Intellectual exertion; mental effort; as, the labor of compiling a history.[1913 Webster]
3. That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.[1913 Webster]
Being a labor of so great a difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
4. Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth.[1913 Webster]
The queen's in labor,They say, in great extremity; and fearedShe'll with the labor end.
5. Any pang or distress. Shak.[1913 Webster]
6. (Naut.) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.[1913 Webster]
7. [Sp.] A measure of land in Mexico and Texas, equivalent to an area of 1771/7 acres. Bartlett.
8. (Mining.) A stope or set of stopes. [Sp. Amer.][Webster 1913 Suppl.]
Syn. -- Work; toil; drudgery; task; exertion; effort; industry; painstaking. See Toll.[1913 Webster]
Labor, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Labored (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Laboring.] [OE. labouren, F. labourer, L. laborare. See Labor, n.] [Written also labour.] 1. To exert muscular strength; to exert one's strength with painful effort, particularly in servile occupations; to work; to toil.[1913 Webster]
Adam, well may we labor still to dressThis garden.
2. To exert one's powers of mind in the prosecution of any design; to strive; to take pains.[1913 Webster]
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.[1913 Webster]
The stone that labors up the hill.
The line too labors, and the words move slow.
To cure the disorder under which he labored.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
4. To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.[1913 Webster]
5. (Naut.) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea. Totten.[1913 Webster]
Labor, v. t. [F. labourer, L. laborare.] 1. To work at; to work; to till; to cultivate by toil.[1913 Webster]
The most excellent lands are lying fallow, or only labored by children.
2. To form or fabricate with toil, exertion, or care. “To labor arms for Troy.” Dryden.[1913 Webster]
3. To prosecute, or perfect, with effort; to urge strenuously; as, to labor a point or argument.[1913 Webster]
4. To belabor; to beat. [Obs.] Dryden.[1913 Webster]