labor

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Hard work, especially physical work done for pay.

   Their labor did not require a great deal of skill.

2. 2
   noun

   Workers as a group, or the workforce of a country or industry.

   There is a shortage of skilled labor in this field.

3. 3
   verb

   To work hard, especially at something difficult.

   They labored for years to build the business.

4. 4
   noun

   The process of giving birth.

   She went into labor early in the morning.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Labour entered Middle English through French from Latin labor “toil, distress, trouble.” Its economic sense of work performed to meet a community’s needs was established by the mid-17th century and was used technically by Adam Smith in the late 18th century, helping prepare the word for later political use.

Variant of Labarre.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary