labouring

Verb

labour (third-person singular simple present labours, present participle labouring, simple past and past participle laboured)

1. (intransitive) 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

   Synonyms:

   grind

2. (transitive) 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.
3. 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
4. To suffer the pangs of childbirth.
5. 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

See all 14 meanings of labour