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Webster 1913 Edition

Labor

La′bor

(lā′bẽr)
,
Noun.
[OE.
labour
, OF.
labour
,
laber
,
labur
, F.
labeur
, L.
labor
; cf. Gr.
λαμβάνειν
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.
God hath set
Labor
and rest, as day and night, to men
Successive.
Milton.
2.
Intellectual exertion; mental effort;
as, the
labor
of compiling a history
.
3.
That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
Being a
labor
of so great a difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
Hooker.
4.
Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth.
The queen’s in
labor
,
They say, in great extremity; and feared
She'll with the
labor
end.
Shakespeare
5.
Any pang or distress.
Shak.
6.
(Naut.)
The pitching or tossing of a vessel which results in the straining of timbers and rigging.
Syn. – Work; toil; drudgery; task; exertion; effort; industry; painstaking. See
Toll
.

La′bor

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Labored
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Laboring
.]
[OE.
labouren
, F.
labourer
, L.
laborare
. See
Labor
,
Noun.
]
[Written also
labour
.]
1.
To exert muscular strength; to exert one's strength with painful effort, particularly in servile occupations; to work; to toil.
Adam, well may we
labor
still to dress
This garden.
Milton.
2.
To exert one's powers of mind in the prosecution of any design; to strive; to take pains.
3.
To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard, wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden; to be burdened; – often with under, and formerly with of.
The stone that
labors
up the hill.
Granville.
The line too
labors
, and the words move slow.
Pope.
To cure the disorder under which he
labored
.
Sir W. Scott.
Come unto me, all ye that
labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matt. xi. 28
4.
To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.
5.
(Naut.)
To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent sea.
Totten.

La′bor

,
Verb.
T.
[F.
labourer
, L.
laborare
.]
1.
To work at; to work; to till; to cultivate by toil.
The most excellent lands are lying fallow, or only
labored
by children.
W. Tooke.
2.
To form or fabricate with toil, exertion, or care.
“To labor arms for Troy.”
Dryden.
3.
To prosecute, or perfect, with effort; to urge strenuously;
as, to
labor
a point or argument
.
4.
To belabor; to beat.
[Obs.]
Dryden.

Webster 1828 Edition

Labor

LA'BOR

,
Noun.
[L. labor, from labo, to fail.]
1.
Exertion of muscular strength, or bodily exertion which occasions weariness; particularly, the exertion of the limbs in occupations by which subsistence is obtained, as in agriculture and manufactures, in distinction from exertions of strength in play or amusements, which are denominated exercise, rather than labor. Toilsome work; pains; travail; any bodily exertion which is attended with fatigue. After the labors of the day, the farmer retires, and rest is sweet. Moderate labor contributes to health.
What is obtained by labor will of right be the property of him by whose labor it is gained.
2.
Intellectual exertion; application of the mind which occasions weariness; as the labor of compiling and writing a history.
3.
Exertion of mental powers, united with bodily employment; as the labors of the apostles in propagating christianity.
4.
Work done, or to be done; that which requires wearisome exertion.
Being a labor of so great difficulty, the exact performance thereof we may rather wish than look for.
5.
Heroic achievement; as the labors of Hercules.
6.
Travail; the pangs and efforts of childbirth.
7.
The evils of life; trials; persecution, &c.
They rest from their labors - Rev. 14.

LA'BOR

,
Verb.
I.
[L. laboro.]
1.
To exert muscular strength; to act or move with painful effort, particularly in servile occupations; to work; to toil.
Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work - Ex. 20.
2.
To exert one's powers of body or mind, or both, in the prosecution of any design; to strive; to take pains.
Labor not for the meat which perisheth. John 6.
3.
To toil; to be burdened.
Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matt. 11.
4.
To move with difficulty.
The stone that labors up the hill.
5.
To move irregularly with little progress; to pitch and roll heavily; as a ship in a turbulent sea.
6.
To be in distress; to be pressed.
- As sounding cymbals aid the laboring moon.
7.
To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth.
8.
To journey or march.
Make not all the people to labor thither. Josh. 7.
9.
To perform the duties of the pastoral office. 1Tim. 5.
10.
To perform christian offices.
To labor under, to be afflicted with; to be burdened or distressed with; as, to labor under a disease or an affliction.

LA'BOR

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To work at; to till; to cultivate.
The most excellent lands are lying fallow, or only labored by children.
2.
To prosecute with effort; to urge; as, to labor a point or argument.
3.
To form or fabricate with exertion; as, to labor arms for Troy.
4.
To beat; to belabor. [The latter word is generally used.]
5.
To form with toil and care; as a labored composition.

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