labor

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

God hath set
Labor and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Intellectual exertion; mental effort; as, the labor of compiling a history. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort. [ 1913 Webster ]

Being a labor of so great a difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth. [ 1913 Webster ]

The queen's in labor,
They say, in great extremity; and feared
She'll with the labor end. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Any pang or distress. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Naut.) The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Syn. -- Work; toil; drudgery; task; exertion; effort; industry; painstaking. See Toll. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ F. labourer, L. laborare. ] 1. To work at; to work; to till; to cultivate by toil. [ 1913 Webster ]

The most excellent lands are lying fallow, or only labored by children. W. Tooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To form or fabricate with toil, exertion, or care. “To labor arms for Troy.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To prosecute, or perfect, with effort; to urge strenuously; as, to labor a point or argument. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To belabor; to beat. [ Obs. ] Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. laborans, p. pr. of laborare to labor. ] A chemist. [ Obs. ] Boyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Laboratories [ Shortened fr. elaboratory; cf. OF. elaboratoire, F. laboratoire. See Elaborate, Labor. ] [ Formerly written also elaboratory. ] 1. The workroom of a chemist; also, a place devoted to experiments in any branch of natural science; as, a chemical, physical, or biological laboratory. Hence, by extension, a place where something is prepared, or some operation is performed; as, the liver is the laboratory of the bile. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: Any place, activity or situation suggestive of a scientific laboratory{ 1 }, especially in being conducive to learning new facts by experimentation or by systematic observation; as, the states serve as laboratories where different new policies may be tested prior to adoption throughout the country. [ PJC ]

. In most of the States and Territories of the United States, a day, usually the first Monday of September, set aside as a legal holiday, in honor of, or in the interest of, workingmen as a class. Also, a similar holiday in Canada, Australia, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. 1. Bearing marks of labor and effort; elaborately wrought; not easy or natural; as, labored poetry; a labored style. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. appearing to require strong effort; as, labored breathing.
Syn. -- heavy, laboured. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. In a labored manner; with labor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Written also labourer. ] One who labors in a toilsome occupation; a person who does work that requires strength rather than skill, as distinguished from that of an artisan. [ 1913 Webster ]