Definition

1. Noun:

   • Physical or mental effort, especially in work: "Labour" refers to the exertion of effort, particularly in tasks requiring physical strength or mental application, often done for payment.
   • Workers collectively: "Labour" can denote the body of people who perform work, especially manual or industrial work, considered as a social or economic class.
   • The process of childbirth: In a medical context, "labour" is the process of contractions and effort leading to the birth of a child.
   • A political party: "Labour" (often capitalized) refers to a major political party, especially in the UK and other Commonwealth countries, traditionally representing workers' interests.

2. Verb:

   • To work hard; to exert oneself: To "labour" means to work with great effort or to strive towards a goal.
   • To move with difficulty or strain: To "labour" can describe moving slowly and with great effort.
   • To be troubled or burdened by something: To "labour under" a belief, problem, or disadvantage means to be affected or hindered by it.
   • To treat or discuss in excessive detail: To "labour" a point means to explain or discuss it at unnecessary length.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The construction project required months of hard labour.
  • The new policy aims to protect the rights of labour.
  • She was in labour for several hours before the baby was born.
  • He voted for the Labour Party in the last election.

• Verb:

  • They laboured all day in the fields.
  • The old truck laboured up the steep hill.
  • He has been labouring under the misconception that the job was his.
  • The speaker laboured the point until the audience grew restless.

Advanced Usage

• "Labour of love": A task done for pleasure, not for reward or payment.

  • Restoring the vintage car was a true labour of love for him.

• "Lost labour": Effort that is wasted or produces no result.

  • Trying to convince him was lost labour; his mind was made up.

Variants and Related Words

• Labor: The standard American English spelling of "labour".
• Labourer (noun): A person who does physical work, especially of an unskilled kind.
  • The farm employed several labourers for the harvest.
• Laborious (adjective): Requiring considerable time and effort.
  • Proofreading the manuscript was a laborious task.

Synonyms

• Work: General activity involving mental or physical effort.
• Toil: Exhausting physical labour.
• Strive: To make great efforts to achieve something.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Labour under: To be misled by or suffer from a belief or disadvantage.

  • The company has been labouring under financial difficulties for years.

• Labour over: To work on something with great effort and for a long time.

  • She laboured over the essay all night.

Related Idioms

• A labour of Hercules: An extremely difficult or nearly impossible task.

  • Cleaning the entire warehouse single-handedly was a labour of Hercules.

• Fruit of one's labour(s): The positive results or rewards gained from hard work.

  • Seeing the finished garden was the sweet fruit of her labour.

Noun

1. productive work (especially physical work done for wages)
   • his labor did not require a great deal of skill
2. a political party formed in Great Britain in 1900; characterized by the promotion of labor's interests and formerly the socialization of key industries
3. concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
   • she was in labor for six hours
4. a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
   • there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field

Verb

1. undergo the efforts of childbirth
2. strive and make an effort to reach a goal
   • She tugged for years to make a decent living
   • We have to push a little to make the deadline!
   • She is driving away at her doctoral thesis
3. work hard
   • She was digging away at her math homework
   • Lexicographers drudge all day long