labour

Other forms: labours; laboured; labouring

Definitions of labour
  1. noun
    productive work (especially physical work done for wages)
    synonyms: labor, toil
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    types:
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    roping
    capturing cattle or horses with a lasso
    corvee
    unpaid labor (as for the maintenance of roads) required by a lord of his vassals in lieu of taxes
    donkeywork, drudgery, grind, plodding
    hard monotonous routine work
    effort, elbow grease, exertion, sweat, travail
    use of physical or mental energy; hard work
    hunt, hunting
    the work of finding and killing or capturing animals for food or pelts
    hackwork
    professional work done according to formula
    haymaking
    cutting grass and curing it to make hay
    manual labor, manual labour
    labor done with the hands
    overwork, overworking
    the act of working too much or too long
    slavery
    work done under harsh conditions for little or no pay
    calf roping
    capturing a calf with a lasso and binding its feet
    steer roping
    capturing a steer with a lasso
    canned hunt
    a hunt for animals that have been raised on game ranches until they are mature enough to be killed for trophy collections
    struggle
    strenuous effort
    difficulty, trouble
    an effort that is inconvenient
    least effort, least resistance
    the least effortful way to do something
    strain, straining
    an intense or violent exertion
    exercise, exercising, physical exercise, physical exertion, workout
    the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit
    pull
    a sustained effort
    application, diligence
    a diligent effort
    overkill
    any effort that seems to go farther than would be necessary to achieve its goal
    supererogation
    an effort above and beyond the call of duty
    overexertion
    excessive exertion; so much exertion that discomfort or injury results
    stalk, stalking, still hunt
    a hunt for game carried on by following it stealthily or waiting in ambush
    birdnesting
    hunting for birds' nests to get the eggs
    predation
    the act of preying by a predator who kills and eats the prey
    detrition, friction, rubbing
    effort expended in moving one object over another with pressure
    application, coating, covering
    the work of applying something
    bodywork
    the work of making or repairing vehicle bodies
    handling
    manual (or mechanical) carrying or moving or delivering or working with something
    picking
    the act of picking (crops or fruit or hops etc.)
    planking
    the work of covering an area with planks
    wiring
    the work of installing the wires for an electrical system or device
    type of:
    work
    activity directed toward making or doing something
  2. noun
    a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
    synonyms: labor, proletariat, working class
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    types:
    labor force, labor pool
    the source of trained people from which workers can be hired
    lumpenproletariat
    (Marxism) the unorganized lower levels of the proletariat who are not interested in revolutionary advancement
    organized labor
    employees who are represented by a labor union
    type of:
    class, social class, socio-economic class, stratum
    people having the same social, economic, or educational status
  3. verb
    work hard
    synonyms: dig, drudge, fag, grind, labor, moil, toil, travail
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    type of:
    do work, work
    be employed
  4. verb
    strive and make an effort to reach a goal
    synonyms: drive, labor, push, tug
    bear on, push
    press, drive, or impel (someone) to action or completion of an action
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    types:
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    reach, strain, strive
    to exert much effort or energy
    extend oneself
    strain to the utmost
    kill oneself, overexert oneself
    strain oneself more than is healthy
    bother, inconvenience oneself, trouble, trouble oneself
    take the trouble to do something; concern oneself
    type of:
    fight, struggle
    make a strenuous or labored effort
  5. noun
    concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
    synonyms: childbed, confinement, labor, lying-in, parturiency, travail
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    types:
    premature labor, premature labour
    labor beginning prior to the 37th week of gestation
    type of:
    birth, birthing, giving birth, parturition
    the process of giving birth
  6. verb
    undergo the efforts of childbirth
    synonyms: labor
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    type of:
    undergo
    pass through
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