Definition of Labour

1. Verb. Work hard. "Lexicographers drudge all day long"

Exact synonyms: Dig, Drudge, Fag, Grind, Labor, Moil, Toil, Travail
Generic synonyms: Do Work, Work
Derivative terms: Drudge, Drudge, Drudgery, Grind, Grind, Labor, Labor, Laborer, Labourer, Toil, Toiler, Travail

2. Noun. A social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages. "There is a shortage of skilled labor in this field"
Exact synonyms: Labor, Proletariat, Working Class
Generic synonyms: Class, Social Class, Socio-economic Class, Stratum
Specialized synonyms: Labor Force, Labor Pool, Lumpenproletariat, Organized Labor
Member holonyms: Prole, Proletarian, Worker
Derivative terms: Proletarian

3. Verb. Strive and make an effort to reach a goal. "She is driving away at her doctoral thesis"
Exact synonyms: Drive, Labor, Push, Tug
Related verbs: Bear On, Push
Specialized synonyms: Reach, Strain, Strive
Generic synonyms: Fight, Struggle
Derivative terms: Drive, Labor, Laborer, Push
Also: Push On

4. Noun. Concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child. "She was in labor for six hours"

5. Verb. Undergo the efforts of childbirth.
Exact synonyms: Labor
Entails: Bear, Birth, Deliver, Give Birth, Have
Generic synonyms: Undergo
Derivative terms: Labor

6. 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.
Exact synonyms: British Labour Party, Labor, Labour Party
Generic synonyms: Labor Party, Labour Party
Member holonyms: Labourite

7. Noun. Productive work (especially physical work done for wages). "His labor did not require a great deal of skill"

Definition of Labour

1. Proper noun. Short for the Labour Party. ¹

2. Noun. Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work. ¹

3. Noun. Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; ''sometimes specifically'' the labour movement, organised labour. ¹

4. Noun. A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour. ¹

5. Noun. The act of a mother giving birth ¹

6. Noun. The time period during which a mother gives birth. ¹

7. Verb. (intransitive) To toil, to work. ¹

8. Verb. (transitive) To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc). ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Labour

1. to labor [v -ED, -ING, -S] - See also: labor

Medical Definition of Labour

1. The act of giving birth to a baby. There are four stages: The first stage lasts from the onset of labour until there is full dilation (10 cm.) of the cervical os (opening). The first stage of labour is also called the stage of dilatation. The second stage lasts from the full dilatation of the cervix until the baby is completely out of the birth canal and has been born. The second stage of labour is also called the stage of expulsion. The third stage lasts from birth of the foetus through expulsion or extraction of the placenta and membranes (afterbirth). The third stage of labour is also called the placental stage. The fourth stage is the hour or two after delivery when the tone of the uterus is established and the uterus contracts down again. (08 Mar 2000)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Labour

laboriousness
laboriousnesses
laborist
laborists
laborite
laborites
laborless
laborlore
laborous
labors
labors of love
laborsaving
laborshed
laborsheds
laborsome
labour (current term)
labour'd
labour-intensive
labour camp
labour camps
labour complications
labour force
labour of love
labour onset
labour presentation
labour union
labour unions
labouratory
laboured

Literary usage of Labour

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Capital: A Critique of Political Economy by Karl Marx (1906)
"In this case he produces no surplus-value, for the buyer of his labour, ... But it is on this very basis that he sells his labour and that his labour is ..."

2. OECD Economic Surveys: Slovak Republic by OECD Staff (2005)
"A new housing policy is required to improve inter-regional labour mobility Like many ... As a result, economies with high labour mobility tend to experience ..."

3. The Lancet (1842)
"cing premature labour waa nut less striking, although the degree of distortion waa so great that a child of seven mouths could not be born alive. 1. ..."

4. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, James Edwin Thorold Rogers (1869)
"Taxes upon the Wages of labour. The wages of the inferior classes of workmen, I have endeavoured to show in the First Book, are everywhere necessarily ..."

5. The Cambridge Modern History by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton Acton, Ernest Alfred Benians, George Walter Prothero, Sir Adolphus William Ward (1907)
"The produce of labour constitutes the natural recompense or wages of labour." In the original state of things, which precedes both the appropriation of land ..."

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