labor (n.)

  1. a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages; there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field

    [ Syn: labour , working class , proletariat ]

  2. productive work (especially physical work done for wages); his labor did not require a great deal of skill

    [ Syn: labour , toil ]

  3. concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child; she was in labor for six hours

    [ Syn: parturiency , labour , confinement , lying-in , travail , childbed ]

  4. an organized attempt by workers to improve their status by united action (particularly via labor unions) or the leaders of this movement

    [ Syn: labor movement , trade union movement ]

  5. a political party formed in Great Britain in 1900; characterized by the promotion of labors interests and formerly the socialization of key industries

    [ Syn: british labour party , labour party , labour , labor ]

  6. the federal department responsible for promoting the working conditions of wage earners in the United States; created in 1913

    [ Syn: department of labor , labor department , labor , dol ]

  7. any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted; he prepared for great undertakings

    [ Syn: undertaking , project , task ]

    labor (v.)

  1. strive and make an effort to reach a goal; She tugged for years to make a decent living; We have to push a little to make the deadline!; She is driving away at her doctoral thesis

    [ Syn: tug , labour , push , drive ]

  2. work hard; She was digging away at her math homework; Lexicographers drudge all day long

    [ Syn: labour , toil , fag , travail , grind , drudge , dig , moil ]

  3. undergo the efforts of childbirth

    [ Syn: labour ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.