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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Labor \La"bor\ (l[=a]"b[~e]r), n. [OE. labour, OF. labour,
laber, labur, F. labeur, L. labor; cf. Gr. lamba`nein to
take, Skr. labh to get, seize.] [Written also {labour}.]
1. Physical toil or bodily exertion, especially when
fatiguing, irksome, or unavoidable, in distinction from
sportive exercise; hard, muscular effort directed to some
useful end, as agriculture, manufactures, and like;
servile toil; exertion; work.
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God hath set
Labor and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive. --Milton.
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2. Intellectual exertion; mental effort; as, the labor of
compiling a history.
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3. That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that
which demands effort.
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Being a labor of so great a difficulty, the exact
performance thereof we may rather wish than look
for. --Hooker.
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4. Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth.
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The queen's in labor,
They say, in great extremity; and feared
She'll with the labor end. --Shak.
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5. Any pang or distress. --Shak.
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6. (Naut.) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results
in the straining of timbers and rigging.
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7. [Sp.] A measure of land in Mexico and Texas, equivalent to
an area of 1771/7 acres. --Bartlett.

8. (Mining.) A stope or set of stopes. [Sp. Amer.]
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Syn: Work; toil; drudgery; task; exertion; effort; industry;
painstaking. See {Toll}.
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Labor \La"bor\, v. t. [F. labourer, L. laborare.]
1. To work at; to work; to till; to cultivate by toil.
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The most excellent lands are lying fallow, or only
labored by children. --W. Tooke.
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2. To form or fabricate with toil, exertion, or care. "To
labor arms for Troy." --Dryden.
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3. To prosecute, or perfect, with effort; to urge
strenuously; as, to labor a point or argument.
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4. To belabor; to beat. [Obs.] --Dryden.
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Labor \La"bor\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Labored}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Laboring}.] [OE. labouren, F. labourer, L. laborare. See
{Labor}, n.] [Written also {labour}.]
1. To exert muscular strength; to exert one's strength with
painful effort, particularly in servile occupations; to
work; to toil.
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Adam, well may we labor still to dress
This garden. --Milton.
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2. To exert one's powers of mind in the prosecution of any
design; to strive; to take pains.
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3. To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's
work under conditions which make it especially hard,
wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under
a burden; to be burdened; -- often with under, and
formerly with of.
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The stone that labors up the hill. --Granville.
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The line too labors, and the words move slow.
--Pope.
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To cure the disorder under which he labored. --Sir
W. Scott.
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Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. --Matt. xi. 28
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4. To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be
in labor.
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5. (Naut.) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent
sea. --Totten.
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