transcription, транскрипция: [ leɪbə(r) ]
( labours, labouring, laboured)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: in AM, use 'labor'
1.
Labour is very hard work, usually physical work.
...the labour of seeding, planting and harvesting...
The chef at the barbecue looked up from his labours; he was sweating.
N-UNCOUNT : also N in pl , oft supp N
see also hard labour
2.
Someone who labours works hard using their hands.
...peasants labouring in the fields...
Her husband laboured at the plant for 17 years.
VERB : V , V
3.
If you labour to do something, you do it with difficulty.
For twenty-five years now he has laboured to build a religious community.
...a young man who’s labouring under all kinds of other difficulties.
= struggle
VERB : V to-inf , V under n
4.
Labour is used to refer to the workers of a country or industry, considered as a group.
Latin America lacked skilled labour...
They were cheap labour.
N-UNCOUNT : oft supp N
5.
The work done by a group of workers or by a particular worker is referred to as their labour .
The unemployed cannot withdraw their labour–they have no power.
N-UNCOUNT : oft poss N
6.
In Britain, people use Labour to refer to the Labour Party .
They all vote Labour.
N-PROPER-COLL
7.
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.
ADJ
8.
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...
You seem to be labouring under considerable misapprehensions.
VERB : V under n , V under n
9.
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 : V n
10.
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.
N-UNCOUNT