[…]So I ſet myſelf to enlarge my Cave and Works farther into the Earth; for it was a looſe ſandy Rock, which yielded eaſily to theLabour I beſtowed on it[…]
That which requires hard work for its accomplishment; that which demands effort.
In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilledlabour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.
(uncountable) A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
Like many others ending in-our/-or, this word is spelledlabour in the UK andlabor in the U.S. As such,labor is the more common spelling of the unit. In Canada,labour is preferred, butlabor is not unknown. In Australia,labour is the standard spelling, but the Australian Labour Party, founded in 1908, "modernized" its spelling toAustralian Labor Party in 1912 at the suggestion of American-bornKing O'Malley, who was a prominent leader in the ALP.
1939 September, D. S. Barrie, “The Railways of South Wales”, inRailway Magazine, page165:
Standing on the mountain above Caerphilly, one may reflect upon the gap where once stood Llanbradach Viaduct, and look near at hand upon the restored ruins of Caerphilly Castle; manlabours to rebuild the mediaeval whilst he ruthlessly scraps the modern.
1961 May, “Beattock Interlude”, inTrains Illustrated, page 287, photo caption:
"Crab"2-6-0 No 42802labours up to Beattock Summit with a northbound freight from Carlisle in August 1960.
(transitive) Tobelabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).
I think we've all got the idea. There's no need tolabour the point.
1920,Edward Carpenter,Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published1921, page36:
It is needless tolabor a point which is so well known. Everyone understands and appreciates the joy of finding that the long darkness is giving way, that the Sun is growing in strength, and that the days are winning a victory over the nights.
To be oppressed with difficulties or disease; to do one's work under conditions which make it especially hard or wearisome; to move slowly, as against opposition, or under a burden.
1711 May, [Alexander Pope],An Essay on Criticism, London:[…] W[illiam] Lewis[…]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor[…], T[homas] Osborn[e][…], and J[ohn] Graves[…],→OCLC:
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
