Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense labours, present participle labouring, past tense, past participle labouredregional note: in AM, use labor
1. uncountable noun
Labour is very hard work, usually physical work.
...the labour of seeding, planting and harvesting. [+ of]
The chef at the barbecue looked up from his labours; he was sweating.
See labour of love
2. See also hard labour
3. verb
Someone who labours works hard using their hands.
...peasants labouring in the fields. [VERB]
Her husband laboured at the plant for 17 years. [VERB]
Synonyms: work, toil, strive, work hard More Synonyms of labour
4. verb
If you labourto do something, you do it with difficulty.
For twenty-five years now he has laboured to build a religious community. [VERB to-infinitive]
...a young man who's labouring under all kinds of other difficulties. [V + under]
Synonyms: struggle, work, strain, work hard More Synonyms of labour
5. uncountable noun
Labour is used to refer to the workers of a country or industry, considered as a group.
Latin America lacked skilled labour.
...the struggle between capital and labour.
They were cheap labour.
6. uncountable noun [oft poss NOUN]
The work done by a group of workers or by a particular worker is referred to as theirlabour.
Every man should receive a fair price for the product of his labour.
The unemployed cannot withdraw their labour–they have no power.
Synonyms: work, effort, employment, toil More Synonyms of labour
7. proper noun [with singular or plural verb]
In Britain, people use Labour to refer to the Labour Party.
They all vote Labour.
8. adjective
A Labour politician or voter is a member of a Labour Party or votes for a Labour Party.
...a Labour MP.
Millions of Labour voters went unrepresented.
9. verb
If you labour under a delusion or misapprehension, you continue to believe something which is not true.
She laboured under the illusion that I knew what I was doing. [V + under]
You seem to be labouring under considerable misapprehensions. [V + under]
Synonyms: be disadvantaged by, suffer from, be a victim of, be burdened by More Synonyms of labour
10. verb
If you labour a point or an argument, you keep making the same point or saying the same thing, although it is unnecessary.
I don't want to labour the point but there it is. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: overemphasize, stress, elaborate, exaggerate More Synonyms of labour
11. uncountable noun
Labour is the last stage of pregnancy, in which the baby is gradually pushed out of the womb by the mother.
I thought the pains meant I was going into labour.
Some women prefer to move about during labour.
More Synonyms of labour
labour in British English
or US labor (ˈleɪbə)
noun
1.
productive work, esp physical toil done for wages
2.
a.
the people, class, or workers involved in this, esp in contrast to management, capital, etc
b.
(as modifier)
a labour dispute
labour relations
3.
a.
difficult or arduous work or effort
b.
(in combination)
labour-saving
4.
a particular job or task, esp of a difficult nature
5.
a.
the process or effort of childbirth or the time during which this takes place
b.
(as modifier)
labour pains
6. labour of love
verb
7. (intransitive)
to perform labour; work
8. (intr; foll by for, etc)
to strive or work hard (for something)
9. (intransitive; usually foll byunder)
to be burdened (by) or be at a disadvantage (because of)
to labour under a misapprehension
10. (intransitive)
to make one's way with difficulty
11. (transitive)
to deal with or treat too persistently
to labour a point
12. (intransitive)
(of a woman) to be in labour
13. (intransitive)
(of a ship) to pitch and toss
Derived forms
labouringly (ˈlabouringly) or US laboringly (ˈlaboringly)
adverb
Word origin
C13: via Old French from Latin labor; perhaps related to lābī to fall
labour in American English
(ˈleɪbər)
noun, verb intransitive, verb transitive
British
labor
More idioms containing
labour
a labour of love
COBUILD Collocations
labour
cheap labour
induce labour
premature labour
unskilled labour
Examples of 'labour' in a sentence
labour
Others are feared to have been diverted into forced labour.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Her father was an artist who did years of hard labour for mild criticisms of party policy.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
Will they wreck it before they can realise a profit on their labour of love?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
It took 50 minutes of hard labour on the excavations and making a mould of where the crown will go.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
They all use overseas labour.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The economic outlook for 2017 is likely to be tough because of weak investment, insufficient skilled labour and depressed growth in real incomes.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
That prohibition equalled profits was a point laboured to exhaustion.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
He was sentenced to eight years of hard labour.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Working in a record shop was pretty much a labour of love.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Western diplomacy needs to win the support of people labouring under oppressive regimes.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The most important requirement for the auto industry is to keep a skilled labour force.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The country is labouring under huge debts.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Women feel calmer and more reassured during labour when we get this great support.
The Sun (2009)
They also have to worry about future labour costs.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
Three generations ago people did physical labour as a job.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Relative costs of labour and capital will determine comparative advantage.
Forstner, Helmut, Ballance, Robert Competing in a Global Economy (1990)
The units have no doctors and lack the medical facilities of a labour ward.
The Sun (2014)
We carried out all this work with local labour.
Page, Russell The Education of a Gardener (1994)
Industrial growth over this period meant that a labouring class became an economic necessity for national wealth.
Boyne, Roy Foucault and Derrida - The Other Side Of Reason (1990)
She also has a tendency to labour a point.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
This book is clearly a labour of love.
The Times Literary Supplement (2014)
Some people labour on to the last syllable.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
It should not be hard labour.
Chaitow, Leon The Beat Fatigue Workbook - how to identify the causes (1988)
Police can no longer stop and search people without needing grounds for suspicion and there is a law against forced labour and servitude.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Life with hard labour, perhaps?
The Sun (2009)
You haven't done a day's manual labour in your life!
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Much of the work also involved heavy labour, building a wired raven compound in the midst of the Maine woods that was the size of most zoos.
The Times Literary Supplement (2011)
In other languages
labour
British English: labour /ˈleɪbə/ NOUN
Labour is very hard work.
The prison was built by the labour of prisoners in the 1920s.
American English: labor
Arabic: عَمَلٌ
Brazilian Portuguese: mão-de-obra
Chinese: 劳动
Croatian: rad
Czech: práce namáhavá
Danish: arbejde
Dutch: arbeid
European Spanish: mano de obra
Finnish: työ työnteko
French: travail
German: Arbeit
Greek: μόχθος
Italian: lavoro
Japanese: 労働
Korean: 노동
Norwegian: arbeid
Polish: praca
European Portuguese: mão-de-obra
Romanian: muncă fizică
Russian: труд
Latin American Spanish: mano de obra
Swedish: arbete
Thai: แรงงาน
Turkish: emek
Ukrainian: праця
Vietnamese: lao động
All related terms of 'labour'
free labour
the labour of workers who are not members of trade unions
hard labour
Hard labour is hard physical work which people have to do as punishment for a crime .
labour camp
A labour camp is a kind of prison , where the prisoners are forced to do hard, physical work, usually outdoors .
Labour Day
a public holiday in many countries in honour of labour , usually held on May 1
labour law
those areas of law which appertain to the relationship between employers and employees and between employers and trade unions
labour ward
a ward or department of a hospital for the care and admission of women in the process of childbirth
lump labour
work done by self-employed workers in the building trade
New Labour
a rebranding of the British Labour Party and its policies undertaken by Tony Blair and his supporters in the run-up to the 1997 general election in the United Kingdom and maintained during the Labour Party's period of government under Blair's premiership . Never an official title, it denotes the more right-wing /social democratic trend in Labour thinking and policy intended to make the party electable after its electoral catastrophes of the 1980s
bonded labour
a system in which a person provides labour in order to pay off debts
casual labour
people who are employed on a temporary , rather than a permanent or regular basis
cheap labour
Labour is used to refer to the workers of a country or industry, considered as a group.
child labour
the full-time employment of children below a minimum age laid down by statute
direct labour
work that is an essential part of a production process or the provision of a service
forced labour
labour done because of force; compulsory labour
induce labour
Labour is the last stage of pregnancy , in which the baby is gradually pushed out of the womb by the mother .
labour costs
the charges incurred when employing labour ; the wages , etc, paid to workers , esp those employed to do physical work
labour force
The labour force consists of all the people who are able to work in a country or area, or all the people who work for a particular company .
labour market
When you talk about the labour market , you are referring to all the people who are able to work and want jobs in a country or area, in relation to the number of jobs there are available in that country or area.
labour pains
the pains felt during the contractions of childbirth
Labour Party
In Britain, the Labour Party is the main left-of-centre party. It believes that wealth and power should be shared fairly and public services should be free for everyone.
labour-saving
A labour-saving device or idea makes it possible for you to do something with less effort than usual .
labour supply
the total number of hours that workers are willing and able to be paid wages to work for
labour unrest
unrest or dissatisfaction displayed by workers , often in the form of strikes , and sometimes violent disputes , etc, which disrupts normal business
manual labour
→ another name for manual work
slave labour
Slave labour refers to slaves or to work done by slaves.
indirect labour
work done in administration and sales rather than in the manufacturing of a product
labour charges
→ another name for labour charges
labour exchange
any of a number of government offices established to collect and supply to unemployed people information about job vacancies and to employers information about availability of prospective workers
Labour movement
→ the Labour movement
labour shortage
a shortage or insufficiency of qualified candidates for employment (in an economy , country, etc)
skilled labour
labour or work that demands skill and which you usually have to be trained for, or the workers that provide this labour
sweated labour
workers forced to work in poor conditions for low pay
aesthetic labour
workers employed by a company for their appearance or accent , with the aim of promoting the company's image
emotional labour
work that requires good interpersonal skills
immigrant labour
people who work in a country they arrived to in order to settle there
labour agreement
a contract between workers and managers setting out working conditions, wages , etc
labour-intensive
Labour-intensive industries or methods of making things involve a lot of workers. Compare → capital-intensive .
labour of love
If you do something as a labour of love , you do it because you really want to and not because of any reward you might get for it, even though it involves hard work.
labour relations
Labour relations refers to the relationship between employers and employees in industry, and the political decisions and laws that affect it.
organized labour
labour carried out by workers in trade unions, or the workers themselves
premature labour
Labour is the last stage of pregnancy , in which the baby is gradually pushed out of the womb by the mother .
unskilled labour
Labour is used to refer to the workers of a country or industry, considered as a group.
a labour of love
a job or task that you do for pleasure or out of duty without expecting a large reward or payment for it
division of labour
a system of organizing the manufacture of an article in a series of separate specialized operations, each of which is carried out by a different worker or group of workers
labour productivity
Productivity is the rate at which goods are produced.
labour-saving device
a machine, gadget , etc, that reduces (human) effort , hard work or labour
the Labour movement
a movement campaigning for the interests of working people, for example for better working conditions, better treatment from employers , etc
Labor Party
one of the chief political parties of Australia , generally supporting the interests of organized labour
Parliamentary Labour Party
→ the Parliamentary Labour Party
International Labour Organisation
a special agency of the United Nations responsible for research and recommendations in the field of labour conditions and practices: founded in 1919 in affiliation to the League of Nations
Chinese translation of 'labour'
labour
or (US) labor
(ˈleɪbəʳ)
n(u)
(= hard work) 劳(勞)动(動) (láodòng)
⇒ the culmination of fifteen months' labour15个月劳动的终结 (shíwǔ gè yuè láodòng de zhōngjié)
(= manpower) 劳(勞)动(動)力 (láodònglì)
⇒ a shortage of skilled labour熟练劳动力的缺乏 (shúliàn láodònglì de quēfá)
(Ind, = work done by work force) 工作 (gōngzuò)
⇒ They are threatening a withdrawal of labour.他们威胁要撤回完成的工作。 (Tāmen wēixié yào chèhuí wánchéng de gōngzuò.)
(Med) 分娩 (fēnmiǎn)
Labour (= Labour Party) 工党(黨) (Gōngdǎng)
adj
Labour[politician, voter]工党(黨) (Gōngdǎng)
vi
to labour to do sth不辞(辭)辛劳(勞)地做某事 (bùcí xīnláo de zuò mǒushì)
vt
to labour a point一再重复(複) (yīzài chóngfù)
to labour under a delusion/an illusion抱着(著)错(錯)觉(覺)不放 (bàozhe cuòjué bù fàng)
to be in labour (Med) 处(處)于(於)阵(陣)痛期 (chǔyú zhèntòng qī)