Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Chiefly British Variant of labor.
Wiktionary
- n. Effort expended on a particular task; toil, work.
- n. uncountable Workers in general; the working class, the workforce; sometimes specifically the labour movement, organised labour.
- n. uncountable A political party or force aiming or claiming to represent the interests of labour.
- n. The act of a mother giving birth.
- n. The time period during which a mother gives birth.
- v. intransitive To toil, to work.
- v. transitive To belabour, to emphasise or expand upon (a point in a debate, etc).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Chiefly Brit. Same as labor; -- British spelling.
WordNet 3.0
- n. productive work (especially physical work done for wages)
- n. concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
- n. a political party formed in Great Britain in 1900; characterized by the promotion of labor's interests and formerly the socialization of key industries
- v. undergo the efforts of childbirth
- v. strive and make an effort to reach a goal
- v. work hard
- n. a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
Etymologies
- From Middle English labouren, from Old French laborer, from Latin laborare ("(intransitive) to labor, strive, exert onself, suffer, be in distress, (transitive) to work out, elaborate"), from labor ("labor, toil, work, exertion"); perhaps remotely akin to robur ("strength"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Anyone possessing a diamond worth, for example, 600£, would here have at his disposal a year's income from one person's labour; but to buy such a diamond and to wear it because it represented that value would, in view of our institutions, be to make oneself ridiculous; for he who did it would simply be investing in that way the profits of _his own labour_.”
“It was at an end, therefore, long before the moft confiderable improvements were made in the produ6Uve powers of labour, and it would be to no purpofe to trace further what might have been its effects upon the recompence or wages of labour*”
Internet Archive: The Works of Adam Smith ...: With an Account of His Life and Writings
“Even a pregnant woman in labour is better off than these cry babies. mfhpr”
“I think the best thing in labour is to remain as relaxed as possible.”
“I suppose we should also have a redirect from the term labour market.”
“HOWEVER, withdrawal of your labour is the least invasive means of making your point.”
Yet Another Strike at York University (and Osgoode Hall)? : Law is Cool
“The withdrawal of your labour is the only weapon you have in the fight for improved pay and conditions.”
Striking Looks « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog
“What our Prime Minister said, and what we said to your Prime Minister and to the Forum Minister, is that Australia knows that a lot of countries in the Pacific, including Tonga, are very interested in the idea of what we call labour mobility – the seasonal workers scheme.”
Transcript - Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs - The Hon Duncan Kerr MP
“Yes, well since the effort of Dr. Hand, I am pretty sure they won't offer a term labour next round, I wonder if they would even allow a normal c-section- did they tell you?”
“The SA Police Union said it had advised members to join Popcru in what it described as labour unrest between Tuesday and Monday.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘labour’.
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EN - academic vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3119 more...
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AFCO - fundamental rights
as enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
academic freedom, access, asylum, bargaining, citizen, cloning, cohesion, collective agreement, collective bargai..., confidentiality, conflict of interest, constraint and 357 more...
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UK Usage - Find US Equivalent
All these terms have a (different) American English equivalent. Wonder if you can identify them?
abridgement (abri..., accoutrement, accoutre, acknowledgement (..., opposite, advert, adaptor, adapter, sticking plaster, advertise, adviser (advisor ..., adze, aesthete and 1196 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
wrath, leaf, belly, prey, death, break, six, nod, dim, end, inn, judge and 1286 more...
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Keywords, by Raymond Williams
From a book about life and death.
aesthetic, alienation, art, behaviour, bourgeois, bureaucracy, capitalism, career, charity, city, civilization, class and 99 more...
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Nouns
an element, an aspect, a component, significant growth, transition, hiccups, labour, predecessor, delight, lawsuit, penchant, entrepreneurship and 23 more...
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EN - rare verbs
fornicate, enfranchise, tweet, natter, fetter, devil, cork, bunker, canoe, backstroke, carom, queer and 52 more...
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English British pronunciation
Differences betwen brithish and American english spelling or pronunciation.
centre, center, fibre, fiber, litre, liter, theatre, theater, colour, color, flavour, flavor and 18 more...
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2
transition, contents, conformity, division, labour, prominent, complexity, interrelationalship, similarity, note, tentative, convey and 75 more...
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Economists do it with models
arbitrage, behaviour, capital, dromography, embargo, fiscal, globalisation, hyperinflation, incentive, j-curve, keynesian, labour and 143 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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MarkDilley's Wordies
organize, stigmergy, peace, recursive, wiki, camelcase, aboutus, self organize, union, labor, labour, clusterfook and 11 more...
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for which I postfer the American spel...
catalogue, doughnut, practise, labour, favourite, colour, theatre, behaviour, neighbour, dialogue, mediæval, encyclopædia and 4 more...
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chiefly british
windlestraw, boffin, poppet, bloody, motorway, telly, git, tyre, windscreen, zebra crossing, panda car, lorry and 61 more...
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LIT - the 100 most common words of th...
Based on a frequency analysis
ages, already, away, become, bourgeois, bourgeoisie, capital, carried, character, class, commerce, commodity and 88 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for labour.

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