Meaning of labour in English

Table of contents

Verb
labour
Definitions
1. work hard
Examples
- « She was digging away at her math homework »
- « Lexicographers drudge all day long »
Derived terms
2. strive and make an effort to reach a goal
Examples
- « She tugged for years to make a decent living »
- « We have to push a little to make the deadline! »
- « She is driving away at her doctoral thesis »
Derived terms
3. undergo the efforts of childbirth
Derived terms
Noun
labour
Definitions
1. a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
Examples
- « there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field »
2. concluding state of pregnancy
Examples
- « from the onset of labor to the birth of a child »
- « she was in labor for six hours »
Derived terms
- labor
3. a political party formed in Great Britain in 1900
Examples
- « characterized by the promotion of labor's interests and the socialization of key industries »
4. productive work (especially physical work done for wages)
Examples
- « his labor did not require a great deal of skill »
Derived terms
- dig
- drive
- drudge
- fag
- grind
- labor
- moil
- push
- toil
- travail
- tug

Famous quotes

« The trouble with the Labour Party leadership and the trade union leadership, they're quite willing to applaud millions on the streets of the Philippines or in Eastern Europe, without understanding the need to also produce millions of people on the streets of Britain. »
Arthur Scargill
« Gold and silver, like other commodities, have an intrinsic value, which is not arbitrary, but is dependent on their scarcity, the quantity of labour bestowed in procuring them, and the value of the capital employed in the mines which produce them. »
David Ricardo
« I think it true that, you know, sometimes things start to change even before a government changes and, actually, I think you can begin to see even the Labour machine beginning to understand that it has become over-reliant on targets and processes, that local governments have been over-bossed and bullied. »
David Cameron
« In politics, the number of women in the cabinet has fallen and, if current poll trends continue and Labour loses a number of marginal seats, the number of female MPs is likely to drop significantly. »
Lucy Powell
« Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television. »
Lewis Thomas