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labour noun [ ˈleɪbə ]

• work, especially physical work.
• "the price of repairs includes labour, parts, and VAT"
Similar: work, toil, employment, exertion, industry, industriousness, toiling, hard work, hard labour, drudgery, effort, the sweat of one's brow, donkey work, menial work, slog, grind, sweat, elbow grease, graft, travail, moil, task, job, chore, undertaking, mission, commission, assignment,
Opposite: rest, leisure, ease, idleness,
• the Labour Party.
• "the Labour leader"
• the process of childbirth from the start of uterine contractions to delivery.
• "a woman in labour"
Similar: childbirth, birth, birthing, delivery, nativity, contractions, labour pains, labour pangs, labour throes, parturition, confinement, accouchement, lying-in, childbed, travail,
• a group of moles.
• "a labour of moles toils with the Earth"

labour verb

• work hard; make great effort.
• "they laboured from dawn to dusk"
Similar: work (hard), toil, slave (away), grub away, plod away, grind away, sweat away, struggle, strive, exert oneself, overwork, work one's fingers to the bone, work like a Trojan/dog/slave, slog away, kill oneself, plug away, put one's back into something, peg away, graft, drudge, travail, moil,
Opposite: rest, relax, laze,
• have difficulty in doing something despite working hard.
• "United laboured against confident opponents"
Similar: strive, struggle, endeavour, work, try hard, make every effort, do one's best, do one's utmost, do all one can, give (it/something) one's all, go all out, fight, push, be at pains, put oneself out, apply oneself, exert oneself, bend/fall/lean over backwards, give it one's best shot, pull out all the stops,
• (of a woman in childbirth) be in labour.
• "she laboured very well and comfortably because she was relaxed"
Origin: Middle English: from Old French labour (noun), labourer (verb), both from Latin labor ‘toil, trouble’.

labour of Hercules

• each of the twelve very difficult tasks imposed on the Greek mythological hero Hercules (or Heracles).

labour of love

• a task done for pleasure, not reward.
"he spent eight years rebuilding the house—a labour of love"

labour the point

• explain or discuss something at excessive length.

labour under

• carry a very heavy load with difficulty.
"two servants appeared, labouring under the weight of a kitchen table"



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