labour
/ˈleɪ.bə//ˈleɪ.bɚ/
labour noun: an effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
Noun
labour (countable and uncountable, plural labours)
- An effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
- […]So I ſet myſelf to enlarge my Cave and Works farther into the Earth; for it was a looſe ſandy Rock, which yielded eaſily to the Labour I beſtowed on it[…]1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 78
- That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
- Being a labour of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
- Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
- In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, pages 364–365
- A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
- The act or process of a mother giving birth.
- Near-synonyms: childbirth, parturition
- Paul Doherty came to the rescue when his wife Georgina went into labour early just minutes from their local hospital.2017 March 7, Stephen Maguire, “Hero Irish dad reveals he had to tell car valet he ‘wasn’t up to anything illegal’ after wife gave birth on back seat on Donegal road”, in The Irish Sun, archived from...
- Synonyms:
- childbirth, parturition
- The time period during which a mother gives birth.
- The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
- A traditional unit of area in Mexico and Texas, equivalent to 177.1 acres or 71.67 ha.
- the establishment of a new settlement are entitled to five sitios of grazing land, and five labors (equal to 23,025 acres)1841, William Kennedy, Texas: The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas
- Synonyms:
- quarter-section
- A group of moles.
- Hidden from its broader surrounding, a labor of moles can toil with the materiality of its existence — Earth — but must always heed barriers to their subterranean sphere.2014 Fall, Cyrus Shahan, Environment, Space, Place, volume 6, number 2, Zeta Books, page 118
- According to the local authority, the development site is home to a labour of moles which have now started appearing in the neighbouring cemetery with scores of molehills now visible across the grounds.2025 March 17, Elliot Jessett, “Dad in tears when he turned up at wife's grave and saw what had happened”, in Liverpool Echo
Verb
labour (third-person singular simple present labours, present participle labouring, simple past and past participle laboured)
- To toil, to work.
- Standing on the mountain above Caerphilly, one may reflect upon the gap where once stood Llanbradach Viaduct, and look near at hand upon the restored ruins of Caerphilly Castle; man labours to rebuild the mediaeval whilst he ruthlessly scraps the modern.1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, in Railway Magazine, page 165
- "Crab" 2-6-0 No 42802 labours up to Beattock Summit with a northbound freight from Carlisle in August 1960.1961 May, “Beattock Interlude”, in Trains Illustrated, page 287, photo caption
- Synonyms:
- grind
- To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).
- I think we've all got the idea. There's no need to labour the point.
- It is needless to labor a point which is so well known. Everyone understands and appreciates the joy of finding that the long darkness is giving way, that the Sun is growing in strength, and that the days are winning a victory over the nights.1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 36
- To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard or wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden.
- the stone that labours up the hill1726, George Granville, Love
- The line too labours, and the words move slow.1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC
- To suffer the pangs of childbirth.
- To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
- the ship laboured so much, and took in so much water in her upper works, that we could neither eat, nor sleep dry1808, William Gilpin, Memoirs of Josias Rogers, Esq
Proper noun capitalized: Labour
Labour
- Short for the Labour Party.
- Synonyms:
- Liebour
- Misspelling of Labor, an Australian political party.
labour meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
labour in Hindi
- work
- श्रम śram, काम kām
- to work
- काम करना kām karnā
labour in Tamil
- உழைப்பு
labour in Marathi
- श्रम
labour in Urdu
- work
- کام kām, شُغْل śuġl, مِحْنَت mihnat
- to work
- کام کرنا kām karnā
More languagesFewer languages
- labour in Bengali
- কাজ kaj, শ্রম srom, মেহনত mehonot
- labour in Telugu
- శ్రమ śrama, కార్మికులు kārmikulu, ప్రసవం prasavaṁ
- labour in Malayalam
- അധ്വാനം adhvānaṁ, പ്രസവം prasavaṁ, അധ്വാനിക്കുക adhvānikkuka
- labour in Kannada
- ದುಡಿಮೆ
- labour in Punjabi
- ਮਜ਼ਦੂਰੀ
- labour in Gujarati
- શ્રમ
- labour in Odia
- ଶ୍ରମ
- labour in Nepali
- श्रम
- labour in Arabic
- عَمَل ʕamal, شُغْل šuḡl, مَخَاض maḵāḍ, عَمَلَ ʕamala
- labour in Malay
- kerja
- labour in Indonesian
- tenaga kerja, kerja
- labour in Thai
- แรงงาน rɛɛng-ngaan, การงาน gaan-ngaan, งาน ngaan
- labour in Vietnamese
- lao động
- labour in Myanmar
- အလုပ် a.lup, လုပ်အား lup-a:
Examples of labour in a sentence
- He pointed out that it takes both labour and capital to produce goods.
- At the end of the marathon, her laboured breathing told us she was exhausted.
- The nurse gave the woman in labour trichloroethylene, a chemical also used to clean metal parts.
Synonyms of labour
Forms of labour
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | labours |
| alternative US | labor |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | labours |
| present participle | labouring |
| past participle | laboured |
| past | laboured |
Origin of labour
From Middle English labor, labour, labur, from Old French labor (modern labeur) and its etymon, Latin labor.
From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin laborare (“(intransitive) to labor, strive, exert oneself, suffer, be in distress, (transitive) to work out, elaborate”), from labor (“labor, toil, work, exertion”); perhaps remotely akin to robur (“strength”). Displaced native English swink (“toil, labor”).
Words formed from labour
- labour pain
- Labourish
- Labourite
- anti-labour
- aristocracy of labour
- back labour
- big labour
- bonded labour
- child labour
- compound labour
- division of labour
- emotional labour
- forced labour
- hard labour
- in labour
- laborite
- labour action
- labour aristocracy
- labour camp
- labour court
- labouress
- labour exchange
- labour force
- labour-intensive
- labour law
- labour lawyer
- labour market
- labour of love
- labourous
- labour power
- labour relations
- labour-saver
- labour share
- laboursome
- labour theory of value
- labour the point
- labour union
- labour-value theory
- labour value theory
- lip-labour
- manual labour
- microlabour
- micro-labour
- mislabour
- mountain in labour
- nonlabour
- outlabour
- overlabour
- prelabour
- sexual division of labour
- Sisyphean labour
- slave labour
- socially necessary labour time
- surplus labour
- wage labour
- labour-saving
- labourer
- labourism
- labourist
- marmalade labour
Phrases with labour
Words that rhyme with labour
Questions about labour
- What does labour mean?
- Labour means an effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
- What is labour in Hindi?
- Labour in Hindi is श्रम (śram), काम (kām), काम करना (kām karnā). See Labour meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is labour?
- Labour can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce labour?
- Labour is pronounced /ˈleɪ.bə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of labour?
- The plural of labour is labours.
Words near labour in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: labour (page history and authors); Labour (page history and authors); labour (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); labour (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); labour (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); labour (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); labour (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); labour (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); labour (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-labour.ogg, en-us-labor.ogg.
Cite this entry: “labour.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/labour. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.