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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Labor \La"bor\, verb (used without an object) [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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Laboring \La"bor*ing\, adjective
1. That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
The sleep of a laboring man is sweet. --Eccl. v. 12.
2. Suffering pain or grief. --Pope.
{Laboring oar}, the oar which requires most strength and exertion; often used figuratively; as, to have, or pull, the laboring oar in some difficult undertaking.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
laboring
adjective: doing arduous or unpleasant work; "drudging peasants"; "the bent backs of laboring slaves picking cotton"; "toiling coal miners in the black deeps" [syn: {drudging}, {labouring}, {toiling}]
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |