Labor \La"bor\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Labored; p. pr. & vb. n.
Laboring.]
[OE. labouren, F. labourer, L. laborare. See
Labor, n.]
[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.
5. (Naut.) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent
sea. -- Totten.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) |