| 释义 |
▪ I. labour, labor, n.|ˈleɪbə(r)|
Forms: 4–5 labore, 4–6 -ur, -oure, 5–6 Sc. laubour, 4– labour, 5– labor.
[a. OF. labor, labour (mod.F. labeur), ad. L. labōrem labour, toil, distress, trouble. Cf. Pr. labor, laor, Sp. labor, Pg. lavor, It. labore.
As in favour, etc., the spelling with -our is preferred in the British Isles, while in the U.S. -or is more common.]
1. a. Exertion of the faculties of the body or mind, esp. when painful or compulsory; bodily or mental toil. hard labour: see hard a. 19 b. † to do one's labour: to exert oneself, make efforts (to do something).
a1300Cursor M. 23699 Þan sal it [þe erth] blisced be and quit o labur, and o soru, and sit. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 633 Why schulde he not her [i.e. innocents'] labour alow? c1386Chaucer Prioress' T. 11 To telle a storie I wol do my labour. c1400Destr. Troy 10770 Hit were labur to long hir lotis to tell. 1484Caxton Fables of Auian (1889) 2 He that wylle haue..worship and glorye may not haue hit withoute grete laboure. 1533Gau Richt Vay (1888) 93 O heuinlie fader giff vsz alsua necessar thingis to our corporal sustentatione be our aune richtus laubour. 1535Coverdale Eccl. ii. 18, I was weery of all my laboure, Which I had taken vnder the Sonne. 1611Bible Ps. civ. 23 Man goeth forth vnto his worke: and to his labour, vntill the euening. 1619Drayton Idea lix, Labour is light where Loue..doth pay. 1667Milton P.L. ii. 1021 So he with difficulty and labour hard Mov'd on, with difficulty and labour hee. 1752Hume Pol. Disc. i. 12 Everything in the world is purchas'd by labour, and our passions are the only causes of labour. 1781Cowper Hope 20 Pleasure is labour too, and tires as much. 1827Lytton Falkland 15 Nothing seemed to me worth the labour of success. 1833Tennyson Lotos-Eaters 87 Ah, why Should life all labour be?
personified.c1400Rom. Rose 4994 With hir Labour and Travaile Logged been. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 82 Nature..Still grants her bliss at Labour's earnest call. 1804Grahame Sabbath 2 Mute is the voice of rural labour.
transf.1842Combe Digest. 267 The stomach, having less labour imposed upon it, will require less blood.
b. Phr. labour in vain, lost labour.
[1377Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 181 [They] helden hem vnhardy and here conseille feble, And leten here labowre lost & alle here longe studye. 1390Gower Conf. III. 293 Whan he sigh..that his labour was in veine. ]1500–20Dunbar Poems lxvi. 13 The leill labour lost, and leill seruice. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxxvii. 2 It is but lost labour that ye ryse vp early. 1615T. Adams England's Sickn. 10 Let Nature doe her best, we dwelt at the Signe of the Labour-in-vaine. Onely Christ hath washed vs. a1670Hacket Abp. Williams ii. (1693) 67 That Commission ended at Labour in vain; not, as the old Emblem is, to go about to make a Black-moor white, but to make him that was White to appear like a Black-moor. 1679Dryden Tr. & Cr. ii. ii, The sign-post for the labour in vain. 1747Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) p. xviii, Add to the rest (for it is not labour lost) that old unfashionable medicine, Prayer.
†c. Bodily exercise. (Cf. Gr. πόνος.)
1584Cogan Haven Health i. (1612) 1 Labour then, or exercise is a vehement moouing, the end whereof is alteration of the breath or winde of man. 1666Harvey Morb. Angl. x. (1672) 28 Moderate labour of the body is universally experienced to conduce to the preservation of health.
†d. An alleged term for a ‘company’ of moles.
1486Bk. St. Albans f vj b, A Labor of Mollis.
2. a. spec. in modern use: Physical exertion directed to the supply of the material wants of the community; the specific service rendered to production by the labourer and artisan.
1776Adam Smith W.N. I. Introd. 1 The annual labour of every nation is the fund which originally supplies it with all the necessaries and conveniencies of life, which it annually consumes. Ibid. I. i. v. 35 Labour, therefore, is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities. 1798Malthus Popul. iv. iv. (1806) II. 348 If the population of this country were better proportioned to its food, the nominal price of labour might be lower than it is now. 1825Edin. Rev. XLIII. 14 The..remedy is to diminish the supply of labour. 1842–59Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Labour, a term in masonry employed to denote the value of a piece of work in consideration of the time bestowed upon it. 1848Mill Pol. Econ. i. iii. §1 (1876) 28 Labour is indispensable to production, but has not always production for its effect. 1863Barry Dockyard Econ. 45 The difficulty of organising labour, particularly in masses, is well known. 1885Act 48 & 49 Vict. c. 56 Preamble, Doubts have arisen as to whether or not it be lawful for an employer of labour to permit electors in his regular employ to absent themselves.
b. The general body of labourers and operatives, viewed in its relation to the body of capitalists, or with regard to its political interests and claims. Chiefly attrib. (see 8).
1839J. F. Bray (title) Labour's wrongs and labour's remedy; or, The age of might and the age of right. 1848Punch XV. 261 Thither [sc. to Australia] should Labour repair to seek Demand. 1880S. Walpole Hist. Eng. III. xiii. 228 Labour..was gradually discovering the truth of the old saying, that God helps those who help themselves. a1901Mod. The parliamentary representation of labour. 1916A. Richardson Man-Power of Nation 55 The time is..opportune for trade unions to recognise their responsibility for the encouragement of the flow of capital for the benefit of industry... This subject of the relationship of labour to economy of output may be said to be hackneyed. 1940W. Temple Hope of New World 61 If there is to be tension at all, let it be between the financial interests of Shareholders and the productive interests of Management and Labour in co-operation. 1970Encycl. Brit. XXII. 652/2 Until after the turn of the century organized labour seldom gained any measure of public sympathy.
c. (With capital initial.) Short for ‘the Labour Party’. Also attrib. (see sense 8). quasi-adv. in phr. to vote Labour.
1906Times 19 Jan. 4/3 (heading) The Liberals and the Labour men. Ibid. 10/1 Just before going to press the news arrived that Lord Stanley..had been defeated..by Mr. W. T. Wilson (Labour). 1918A. Huxley Let. 25 Nov. (1969) 171 Tell Brett also to remember to vote, and to vote Labour, our only hope. 1920Manch. Guardian 5 Jan. 6/2 Could any conceivable Labour Government have made blunders so gross? 1924Ibid. 2 May 9/1 The Labour party and Labour leaders have always been divided upon the subject of P.R. [Proportional Representation]. 1932J. Buchan Gap in Curtain iii. 149 The younger Tories as a whole were enthusiastic, and, what is more significant, the Left Wing of Labour blessed it cordially. Ibid., Collinson, a young Labour member from the Midlands, declared that Geraldine was the best Socialist of them all. 1945Let us face the Future (Labour Party) x. 10 Labour led the fight against the mean and shabby treatment which was the lot of millions while Conservative Governments were in power. 1949Lewis & Maude Eng. Middle Classes i. iv. 81 Both Conservatives and Labour competed for the middle-class vote. Ibid. 82 The new Labour formula was nicely expressed by Philip Snowden. 1956C. Cockburn In Time of Trouble xix. 244 The Labour people, the ‘progressive intellectuals’. 1966M. Edelman The ‘Mirror’ viii. 151 Its brilliance was that at no time did the Mirror specifically urge its voters to vote Labour. 1971B. Hindess Decline Working-Class Politics viii. 173 The teenagers of the 1960s..missed the political experience of their parents, the long identification with and support for Labour.
d. Short for Labour Exchange 2.
1935M. Harrison Spring in Tartarus i. 105 You see, mister, I can't go on the Labour, cause I 'aven't been stood off. I'm on'y ill. 1963T. Parker Unknown Citizen iii. 88 I'll ring you up Monday to tell you how I went on at the Labour. 1971R. Rendell One Across iv. 37 Work's not easy to come by when you've no qualifications... Can't they find you anything down at the Labour? 1972L. Henderson Cage until Tame vi. 45 I'm going for a job the Labour picked out for me.
3. An instance of bodily or mental exertion; a work or task performed or to be performed. a labour of Hercules, a Herculean labour: a task requiring enormous strength. labour of love (see love n.1).
a1300Cursor M. 2229, I rede we bigin a laboure..and make a toure. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 11 If that a pigmei scholde make him redy to conflicte after the labores of Hercules..plenerly finischede. 1535Coverdale Rev. xiv. 13 Yee the sprete sayeth, that they rest from their laboures. 1539Taverner Prov. 34 Laboures ones done, be swete. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. ii. 257. 1599 ― Much Ado ii. i. 380. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iv. vii. 226 They are two insupportable labours in searching of the mettall; first to digge and breake the rockes, and then to drawe out the water all together. 1617,1732[see Herculean a. 3]. 1702Rowe Tamerl. Ded., When they shall reckon up his Labours from the Battle of Seneff. 1732Law Serious C. iii. (ed. 2) 32 Whose lives have been a careful labour to exercise these virtues. 1835Lytton Rienzi i. i. 4 My labours of the body, at least, have been light enough. 1871Davies Metric Syst. ii. 29 The rich treasures of their labors.
4. The outcome, product, or result of toil. Also pl. Obs. exc. arch. [Cf. L. hominumque boumque labores, Virgil.]
a1300Cursor M. 1986 Ȝeildes til your creatur þe tend part o your labour. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 7 Y..intende to compile a tretys..excerpte of diuerse labores of auctores. 1535Coverdale Ps. civ. 44 They toke the labours of the people in possession. 1550Crowley Epigr. 307 To worke what they can, and lyue on theyr laboures. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 12 Others haue laboured, and you may enter into their labours. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 688 The waxen Labour of the Bees. 1709Swift Vind. Bickerstaff Wks. 1755 II. i. 174, I saw my labours, which cost me so much thought and watching, bawled about by common hawkers. 1720Pope Iliad xviii. 556 Five ample plates the broad expanse [of the shield] compose, And godlike labours on the surface rose. 1736Col. Rec. Pennsylv. IV. 176 The Thing they want is the peaceable Possession of their Labours.
†5.
a. Trouble or pains taken. (Occas. pl.) Obs.
14..Sir Beues (MS. O.) 928 ‘Haue this’, he sayde, ‘for thy labour!’ 1520in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 27 The auditors..be diligent and take labors herapon. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. ii. i. 139 If it please you, take it for your labour; And so good-morrow Seruant. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 2 The Emperour got for his labour the name Pupillus. a1656Ussher Power of Princes ii. (1683) 141 He caused the Fellow to be soundly whipped for his labour.
†b. esp. The exertion of influence in furthering a matter or obtaining a favour. to make labour: = labour v. 13. Obs.
1454T. Denyes in Paston Lett. No. 199 (1897) I. 274 Aftirward my wif was sum dele easid bi the labour of the Wardeyn of Flete, for the cursid Cardenale had sent hir to Newgate. 1461J. Paston ibid. No. 408 II. 35, I undirstand ther shall be labour for a coroner that day, for ther is labour made to me for my good wyll here. 1482Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxlviii. 315 By labour of lordes that wente bytwene ther was a poyntement taken that ther was no harme done. 1491Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 22 Preamble, I pray you make laboure unto my Lady Warwyk to write to the King of Fraunce. 1540Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 42 §2 Without any further sute or labour to be made to kyngs highnes..for the same. 1542Udall in Lett. Lit. Men (Camd.) 2 Your labour for my restitution to the roume of Scholemaister in Eton. 1565Stow in Three 15th c. Chron. (Camd.) 136 Y⊇ paryshe of S. Marie Magdalyn in Mylke⁓stret, makynge labour to y⊇ byshope, had by hym a mynister apoyntyd to serve them with communion that day.
6. a. The pains and efforts of childbirth; travail. Phr. in labour.
1595Spenser Epithal. 383 Sith of wemens labours thou hast charge, And generation goodly dost enlarge. 1611Bible Gen. xxxv. 16 Rachel traueiled, and she had hard labour [Coverdale: the byrth came harde vpon hir]. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. i. 18 The Queens in Labor They say in great Extremity, and fear'd Shee'l with the Labour, end. 1799Med. Jrnl. II. 477 [She] had then been in labour about two hours... Interrogating her afterwards respecting her former labours [etc.]. 1819Shelley in Dowden Life (1887) II. 308 She has..brought me a fine little boy, after a labour of the very, very mildest character. 1889J. M. Duncan Lect. Dis. Women vi. (ed. 4) 34 In the first labour the woman's power and especially the labour, including the uterine, power is the greatest.
b. fig.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. vii. 81 With Newes the times with Labour, And throwes forth each minute, some. 1612Bacon Ess., Beauty (Arb.) 208 As if nature were rather busie not to erre, then in labour to produce excellency. 1634Heywood Maydenhd. well lost i. B 3 b, My brain's in labour, and must be deliuered Of some new mischeife. 1665Manley tr. Grotius' Low C. Warres 121 And now that sentence is brought forth, wherewith..the Warre had now been in labour for the space of nine years. 1797T. Holcroft tr. Stolberg's Trav. (ed. 2) II. lxvi. 29 We beheld..the mountain incessantly in labour.
†7. Eclipse. [A Latinism.] Obs.—1
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 679 Teach me the various Labours of the Moon, And whence proceed th' Eclipses of the Sun [L. defectus solis varios, lunæque labores].
8. attrib. and Comb.: simple attrib., as labour-sphere; (sense 2) labour bank, labour-bill, labour bureau, labour candidate, labour colony, labour content, labour cost, labour government, labour law, labour leader, labour master, labour member, labour movement, labour party, labour permit, labour power, labour question, labour song, labour union; objective and objective gen., as labour-easing, labour-saving, labour-worthy adjs.; instrumental, as labour-bent, labour coarsened, labour dimmed, labour dominated adjs.; also labour book, a book containing accounts of labour employed; labour camp, a penal settlement where the prisoners are obliged to undertake labouring work; Labour Day U.S., a legal holiday observed on the first Monday of September; a similar holiday observed in Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere; † labour-fellow, fellow-labourer; labour force, (a) = labour power; (b) [cf. force n.1 4 d] a body of workmen; workers, as opposed to employers, considered as a single body; † labour-house, a laboratory; labour-intensive a. (see intensive a. (n.) 5 b); Labour-Liberal a. and n., (a Member of Parliament) combining Labour and Liberal ideas (in early use a Labour M.P. who accepted the Liberal whip); labour-market, the supply of unemployed labour considered with reference to the demand for it; labour note, a note indicating value in terms of work; labour-only a., denoting a sub-contractor who, or sub-contracting which, supplies only the labour for a particular piece of work; labour-pains, pains of childbirth; Labour Party, a political party specially supporting the interests of labour; in the United Kingdom, the organized party formed in 1906 by a federation of trade unions and advanced political bodies to secure the representation of labour in Parliament; labour relations, the relations between management and labour; labour-saving a., designed to ease or eliminate work; so labour-saver; labour-show Obstetrics, the mucous discharge streaked with blood which immediately precedes the occurrence of labour; labour-starve v. trans., to impoverish (land) by expending too little labour upon it; labour-time (see quot.); labour ward (sense 6), a room in a hospital set aside for childbirth; labour-yard, a yard in a workhouse or prison, where enforced labour is done by the inmates.
1832Crisis 28 Apr. 16/1 In Poland-street they had established a *Labour Bank. 1847Illustr. Lond. News 28 Aug. 135/3 The Chartists are raising subscriptions to establish a bank, to be called the ‘Labour Bank’.
1883Fortn. Rev. 1 Nov. 609 The..*labour-bent back of the labourer.
1898Engineering Mag. XVI. 26 Every improvement in labour-saving machinery diminishes the proportion which the *labour-bill bears to the cost of the product.
1893Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Dec. 665 Taking notes from farmers’ *labour-books.
1832Crisis 11 Aug. 90/3 Perhaps the best preliminary mode..will be by the establishment of Equitable Exchange *Labour Bureaus. 1893Rep. Agencies & Methods Unemployed 6 in Parl. Papers 1893–4 (C. 7182) LXXXII. 377 A detailed account of..labour bureaux and of various organisations dealing with distress. 1908New Encycl. Social Reform 998/2 The recent establishment of a system of public employment bureaux called labor bureaux.
1900Jrnl. Soc. Arts 11 May 510/1 Prisoners..might serve their time in..quarries, which would be turned into *labour camps. 1931J. S. Huxley What dare I Think? iii. 88 Infringement of this order could probably be met by a short period of segregation, say in a labour camp. 1958Spectator 6 June 723/3 Recsk, one of the most abominable labour camps in the world. 1974Times 18 Feb. 14/7 Perhaps the conference helped to save Mr Solzhenitsyn from a labour camp.
1893H. F. McLelland Jack & Beanstalk 16 You'd make a good *Labour Candidate. 1921F. W. P. Lawrence Labour Party 3 For nearly every seat there is a Labour candidate. 1948M. Phillips in H. Tracey Brit. Labour Party I. 9 Labour candidates are selected by the Constituency Parties in co-operation with the National Executive Council. 1963J. Blondel Voters, Parties, & Leaders v. 136 Labour candidates are mainly drawn from the middle and lower middle classes.
1866Howell Venet. Life xx. 345 Her *labour-coarsened hands.
1888, etc. *Labour colony [see colony n. 5 c].
1948Spectator 9 Jan. 38/2 Fine worsteds..have a high ‘*labour content’, and raw material is a low item in the cost of their production.
1896J. A. Hobson Probl. Unemployed 69 The *labour cost of distributing a given quantity of goods. 1903Westm. Gaz. 9 July 2/1 The imposition of such duties as will equalise our labour-costs with the labour-costs of our foreign competitors. 1914[see assembly line s.v. assembly 1 c attrib.]. 1966A. Gilpin Dict. Econ. Terms 117 Labour-costs per unit of output, the cost of the labour in real terms involved in making each unit of output from a factory.
1886N.Y. Times 7 Sept. 8/1 (heading) How *Labor Day was observed by all classes of workmen. 1887Westm. Gaz. 6 Sept. 7/1 An Act passed last winter by the State Legislature, making the first Monday in September a legal holiday, to be called ‘Labour Day’. 1910World Almanac (N.Y.) 30 An act [of 1893–4] making Labor Day a public holiday in the District of Columbia. 1931Daily Express 2 Sept. 1/5 The governing committee of the New York Stock Exchange, in response to requests of members, decided to close on Saturday, and also to close on Monday, on account of Labour Day, and to resume on Tuesday. 1963Times 26 Feb. 9/1 The city's [sc. Melbourne's] big retail stores invented this affair, which has taken over the traditional public holiday called Labour Day, now in any case a quaint anachronism in a country of trade union strength. 1974Anderson (S. Carolina) Independent 23 Apr. 1B/1 This is a drastic change from present and past school calendars which start several days prior to Labor Day and finish earlier in the spring.
1867M. Arnold Heine's Grave 89 The weary Titan! with deaf Ears, and *labour-dimm'd eyes.
1959Daily Tel. 19 Aug. 9/2 Nottingham Conservative leaders last night denounced as ‘full of inaccuracies and false inferences’ a report prepared on behalf of the local Labour party... [The] Conservative vice-Chairman of the *Labour-dominated Watch Committee, said: ‘The entire report is..full of inaccuracies and false inferences.’ 1974Listener 23 May 650/3 The finished film was shown to the Labour-dominated committee.
1837Wheelwright tr. Aristoph. I. 196 The fertile vine, whose tendrils bear The *labour-easing grape.
1549Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par., Phil. 9 My *labourfelowes in y⊇ gospell. 1557N. T. (Geneva) 1 Thess. iii. 2 Timotheus..our labour felowe in the Gospel of Christe.
1885J. L. Joynes tr. Marx's Wage-Labour & Capital (1886) 8 Capital necessarily pre-supposes the existence of a class which possesses nothing but *labour-force. 1909B. Webb et al. Socialism & National Minimum i. 38 The parasitic trades, where the employers are able to exact from their workers more labour-force than they replace. 1911F. T. Carlton Hist. & Probl. Organized Labor xvi. 431 In times of depression there are unemployed land and capital as well as an unemployed labor force. 1940Economist 11 May 849/2 Men are being tempted away and the labour force is being shifted round without any consideration of the relative urgency or importance or even skill of different jobs. 1969Times 12 Feb. 9/2 They have run a computer model of an underdeveloped country's economy which relates the growth of g.n.p. to the labour force, capital stock and other factors.
1926Encycl. Brit. II. 653/2 In Jan. 1924..the first *Labour Govt. in this country was formed. 1945Let us face the Future (Labour Party) x. 10 A Labour Government will press on rapidly with legislation extending social insurance..to all. 1971New Statesman 9 July 34/2 Aneurin Bevan had a very simple rule about the role of a Foreign Secretary under a Labour Government.
1712Blackmore Creat. 169 Did chymic chance the furnaces prepare, Raise all the *labour-houses of the air?
1897J. Bryce Impressions S. Afr. xxi. 447 There are also certain ‘*labour laws’, applying to natives only, and particularly to those on agricultural locations. 1902Ann. Amer. Acad. Pol. & Social Sci. XX. 240 When a state legislature passes a new labor law, or revises an old one. Ibid. 241 Labor laws, however good, cannot enforce themselves. 1967A. Hepple Verwoerd ix. 122 With the intensification of race and labour laws, the Non-whites began to resist.
1892Zangwill Bow Myst. viii. 113 A hand was laid upon the *labour leader's shoulder. 1920S. Lewis Main St. xvi. 202 You socialists make me sick! I'm an individualist. I ain't going to be nagged by no bureaus and take orders off labor-leaders. 1972N.Y. Times 3 Nov. 21/8 He is scheduled to meet..labor leaders. 1973Times 16 Nov. 20/8 Labour leaders have been appointed to the boards of nationalized industries..in a personal capacity and not in their own industries.
1902Westm. Gaz. 26 Feb. 6/3 If he could do that when he was returned as a *Labour Liberal member. 1904Daily Chron. 7 Jan. 5/4 Two English Liberal Members (one Liberal and one Labour-Liberal).
a1618Sylvester Spectacles ix. (Grosart) II. 298 Th' idle Lubber, *labour-loathing.
1834Mill in Monthly Repos. New Ser. VIII. 320 We have to lessen the pressure on the *labour-market. 1861Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. 149 The expenditure consequent on this, is thrown into what people call the labour-market. 1876H. Fawcett Pol. Econ. ii. iv. 146 The home labour-market is relieved by emigration. 1946R.A.F. Jrnl. May 160 There must be many a man..awaiting his release with some trepidation on account of uncertainty about his future in the labour market. 1965Seldon & Pennance Everyman's Dict. Econ. 152 It [sc. the employment exchange] thus helps to make the labour market work by acting as a clearing-house of information about employment. 1974Guardian 24 Jan. 13/3 Parents are not going to stay at home, and the labour market needs them.
1901Daily News 10 Jan. 9/3 The *labour master..certified him able to do the work. 1921Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §731 Labour master, engages and discharges casual labour..employed by dock or harbour authority [etc.].
1895Whitaker's Almanack 134 The House of Commons..Liberals, 267 (including 4 *Labour Members).
1870Scribner's Monthly I. 71 The preacher..beats about..in a dissertation on..the ‘*labor movement’. 1893L. T. Hobhouse (title) The Labour Movement. 1944M. Laski Love on Supertax ix. 88 Her ignorance of Party matters, Labour Movements, working-class life. 1969A. Plater Close Coalhouse Door iii. 66 The Labour movement that was made by the miners out of blood, sweat and tears.
1832Crisis 28 Apr. 12/1 Money was not necessary. *Labour-notes were sufficient. 1894B. Jones Co-operative Production I. 89 These labour notes were to supersede the use of metallic coins and ordinary bank notes, and were to become a superior kind of money.
1967Times Rev. Industry Apr. 64/2 It is partly the search for regular and reasonably high earnings that makes men hire themselves to *labour-only sub-contractors. 1969M. Gagg in R. Fraser Work II. 132 A third system is labour-only sub-contracting in which a bricklayer or a group of bricklayers will undertake to do the brickwork on a job for so much per yard super (98 bricks). Ibid. 133 For the past seven years I have been a labour only sub-contractor. 1974Shelter News Easter 3/2 From the trade union point of view, the labour-only sub-contracting practice gives rise to many problems.
1754–64Smellie Midwifery I. 197 If it is delivered without any other assistance than that of the *labour-pains the birth ought to be called natural. 1799Adolphus Mem. Fr. Rev. I. 2 The dauphiness..was unexpectedly seized with labour-pains, and delivered.
1886Pall Mall G. 18 May 3/1 The position attained by the new *Labour party. 1892Roydhouse & Taperell (title) The Labour Party in New South Wales. 1896Labour Annual 39 This [of 1895] was the first General Election in which an organized Labour party, independent of either Liberal or Tory, and opposing either or both, has taken part in the United Kingdom. 1905J. R. Macdonald in W. T. Stead Coming Men 222 The Labour Party..will represent trades; it will represent the working class; it will represent a coherent body of fundamental Labour opinion. 1922Encycl. Brit. XXXII. 507/1 The Labour party..included the Independent Labour Party and the Fabian Society and one or two smaller Socialist bodies. Locally it was organized in several hundred Local Labour parties. Ibid. 884/2 For many years there was a Labor or Socialist Labor national party, which regularly nominated a candidate for the [U.S.] presidency. 1926Daily Chron. 13 May 2/3 What are we to say of the Trade Union and Labour Party leaders who on Saturday, May 1, agreed to the sending out of the strike instructions? 1945W. K. Richmond Educ. in England vi. 116 The generous programme for free secondary education issued..by the Labour Party. 1971New Statesman 9 July 37/1 You could lift almost any quote from the Labour Party's guide for women's sections to illustrate the patronising view they take of us. 1971Sunday Australian 8 Aug. 3/4 The Federal President of the Australian Labor Party..yesterday called on his party to dissociate itself from extremist students.
1927Melody Maker Aug. 777/1 Al Payne should have been leader, but the necessary *labour permits could not be obtained, and the band remains in America. 1943E. M. Almedingen Frossia ii. 107, I have no right to employ anyone..without a proper labour permit.
1866Leisure Hour 17 Mar. 171/1 The competition of labourers with each other for employment, which, in a country like ours, where there is always a vast reserve of *labour-power, must far more than counterbalance any good to the labourer arising from the competition of the masters for his services. 1896J. A. Hobson Probl. Unemployed 2 Off-time..implies waste of labour-power. 1959B. Wootton Social Sci. & Social Path. ix. 280 He matters in himself, and not merely as a unit of cannon-fodder, labour-power or population.
1888E. Bellamy Looking Backward v, What solution, if any, have you found for the *labour question?
1943J. S. Huxley TVA 116 The TVA's work in making a comparative survey of rates and conditions in all the fertilizer plants of the region, which helped materially in promoting better *labour relations. 1973Guardian 12 Mar. 11/7 Leyland's personnel manager declined to comment... ‘I personally am anti-press. I have had too much trouble with you lot buggering up labour relations.’
1902Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 830/2 The machine appears to be a real *labour and time saver, and is moderate in price. 1929A. Huxley Do what you Will 86 The machine..is..a labour-saver.
177.Adam Smith (Worcester), A *labor-saving machine. 1870Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 110 Only too thankful for any labor-saving contrivance whatsoever. 1904Sci. Amer. 21 May 404/2 The present enormous industry..was rendered possible only by the introduction of labor-saving machinery. 1932Discovery Jan. 10 Many remarkable labour-saving machines have been evolved in recent years. 1957Observer 11 Aug. 8/4 The old owners have dwindled, departed, and found labour-saving bungalows in quieter spots. 1964M. McLuhan Understanding Media xvi. 161 The American farmer, confronted with new tasks and opportunities, and at the same time with a great shortage of human assistance, was goaded into a frenzy of creation of labor-saving devices. 1971Engineering Apr. 92/2 With its time and labour-saving features.
1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 60 Leucorrhea Nabothi, *Labour-Show.
1888L. A. Smith Music of Waters 275 Isaac D'Israeli, in his ‘Curiosities of Literature’, mentions the numerous *labour-songs used by the ancient Greeks. 1921Labour song [see blues]. 1974Times 25 Sept. 14/8 She..sang a labour song about joining the union.
1868J. H. Newman Verses Var. Occasions 140 Severed..From thy loved *labour-sphere.
1891Daily News 28 Mar. 2/6 The land of Lincolnshire..was *labour-starved. 1898J. Arch Story of Life viii. 183 Hundreds and hundreds of labour-starved acres.
1887Kirkup in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 212/1 The *labour-time which we take as the measure of value is the time required to produce a commodity under the normal social conditions of production with the average degree of skill and intensity of labour.
1866in Documentary Hist. Amer. Industr. Society (1910) IX. 133 Each member belonging to the National *Labor Union. 1884J. Hay Bread-Winners xi. 183 The labor unions have ordered a general strike. 1944H. A. Wallace Century of Common Man 25 July 84 The people of America know that the second step towards Nazism is the destruction of labour unions. 1973Times 16 Nov. 20/7 Nationalism has had an important effect on labour union attitudes in Canada.
1933A. W. Bourne et al. Queen Charlotte's Text-bk. Obstetr. (ed. 3) xiv. 266 No person is allowed in the hospital *labour ward without a mask, which covers both the mouth and nose. 1953E. Simon Past Masters iv. vi. 260 That first time the baby had been born..at home... Now..I was taken straight to the Labour Ward. 1968S. Bender Obstetr. for Pupil Midwives xi. 147 The woman admitted to the labour ward and her accompanying relative or friend are greeted cheerfully.
1640Fuller Joseph's Coat ii. (1867) 116 It will be a *labour-worthy discourse.
1856Reade Never too late x, He went into the *labor-yard, looked at the cranks [etc.].
Add:[2.] e. Pol. Econ. (esp. Marxism). labour theory of value, the theory that the value of a commodity is influenced or determined by the amount of human labour expended in the course of its production;cf. value theory (a) s.v. value n. 8.
1904Stud. in Hist., Econ. & Publ. Law (Columbia Univ.) XIX. ii. i. 9 The following history of the labor theory of value begins with Adam Smith. 1925A. D. Lindsay Karl Marx's Capital ii. 50 The labour theory of value..is common ground with Marx and the individualist economists. 1950Theimer & Campbell Encycl. World Politics 282/1 Marx adopted the labour theory of value from Ricardo. 1971I. Deutscher Marxism in our Time (1972) i. 18 In the classical economy..Marx saw the main elements out of which he developed his own theory, especially the labor theory of value. 1987F. Vianello in J. Eatwell et al. New Palgrave Dict. Econ. III. 110/2 A major difference between the Ricardian version of the labour theory of value and its Marxian version..lies precisely here: that the former can be regarded as an approximation, whereas the latter cannot.
[8.] labour brigade, a band or unit of workers, esp. one organized by the authorities.
1951G. B. Shaw Farfetched Fables III, in Buoyant Billions 112 Youll be enlisted in the military police or kept under tutelage in a *Labor Brigade. 1965M. Michael tr. J. Myrdal's Rep. from Chinese Village (1967) i. 44 Every member of the labour brigade is given a private plot. 1978Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. (Record) 7/5 It is assumed that the Jews..will either be thrown into the streets or put into ghettos and concentration camps, or impressed into labor brigades and put to work for the Third Reich.
Labour Day, (b) (with lower-case initials) [tr. Russ. trudoden′, f. trud labour + den′ day], in the former Soviet Union and China: the notional unit of labour on the basis of which collective-farm workers were paid, derived from the level and quantity of work completed.
1930Economist (Russ. Suppl.) 1 Nov. 17/2 In general, work is organised and paid for on a five-grade tariff, the basis of which is a 10-hour ‘labour day’. 1975A. Watson Living in China iii. 76 Once a peasant's work-points have been settled, they are added up and converted into labour days at the rate of 10 points per day... The peasants are then paid according to the number of labour days they have worked during the year.
labour hero, in the People's Republic of China: a title awarded to a worker who produces an exceptionally high output.
1945G. Stein Challenge of Red China iv. xvi. 159 We wanted to know how Wu Men-yu had become a *Labor Hero. 1979China Now Jan.–Feb. 11/1 Several Chinese have reportedly received awards as labour heroes.
similarly labour heroine.
1952China Reconstructs i. 34/1 Women are doing everything nowadays. We already have *labour and combat heroines, women government leaders and workers... And now women tram drivers in Peking. 1976D. Davin Woman-Work iv. 135 Finally as a national labour heroine she saw Chairman Mao in Peking.
labour secretary U.S., the U.S. cabinet member in charge of the Department of Labor, who has responsibility for employment, labour relations, and related matters (see secretary n.1 3 a).
1913N.Y. Times 27 Feb. 1/4 E.H. Farr may be Attorney General and Congressman Wilson new *Labor Secretary. 1961Newark Even. News 14 Mar. 24/1 Treasury Secretary Dillon and Labor Secretary Goldberg fell into line..though there has been some reluctance to do so at the White House. 1992Time 20 Jan. 25/1 Labor Secretary Lynn Martin gave North Carolina 90 days to strengthen its laggard factory-inspection program.
labour spy U.S., a person engaged in covert observation of the activities of fellow workers, esp. union members.
1907M. Friedman Pinkerton Labor Spy i. 7 The appelation ‘secret operative’ is but another name for ‘labor operative’ or ‘*labor spy’. 1959Clarence & Bonnett Labor-Managem. Relations vii. 130 So long as there are strikes, detectives (labor spies and union spies) will continue to operate in some form or manner, legally or illegally. 1978Hagburg & Levine Labor Relations ii. 17 The La Follette Committee, investigating industrial espionage, reported as late as 1937 that its census of working labor spies from 1933–1937 totaled 3871 for the entire period.
labour turnover = turn-over n. 6 c.
1915Ann. Amer. Acad. Pol. & Social Sci. LXI. 128 By *labor turn-over is meant the number of hirings and firings in a plant and the relation which that bears in a year to the total number employed. 1989Appl. Econ. XXI. 1465 This paper examines the determinants of labour turnover within an industry.
Labour weekend N.Z., the bank holiday weekend preceding and including Labour Day.
[1947Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 28 Oct. 8 The Labour Day weekend is traditionally the time when tomato plants may first be planted.] 1948Ibid. 22 Oct. 6 If the tradition of wet *Labour weekends is not maintained in Wellington this year sportsmen..should..enjoy themselves. 1976–7Sea Spray (N.Z.) Dec.–Jan. 98/1 Opening of the season at Labour Weekend featured a mystery cruise in the Marlborough Sounds.
▪ II. labour, labor, v.|ˈleɪbə(r)|
Forms: 4 laborie, -y, labre, 4–5 labore, -er, 4–6 laboure, 5 -owre, Sc. lauber, 5–6 labur, Sc. laubour, 6 -or, -ur, -yr, 4– labor, 5– labour.
[a. F. labourer (early laborer, 10th c.), ad. L. labōrāre, f. labōr-, labor (see prec.). Cf. It. lavorare, Sp. labrar, Pg. lavrar.
In mod.Fr., Sp., and Pg. the word is chiefly restricted to the specific sense ‘to plough’, the wider sense having passed to the vb. represented in Eng. by travail.]
I. Transitive senses.
1. To spend labour upon (the ground, † vegetable growths, etc.); to till, cultivate. Now poet. or arch. Also, in recent use, to work (a mine).
13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 503 To labor vyne watz dere þe date. c1470Henry Wallace viii. 1607 The abill ground gert laubour thryftely. 1481Caxton Godfrey viii. (1893) 29 They laboured no londe by eryng. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. clxxxviii. 223 The landes were voyde and nat laboured. 1549Compl. Scot. xv. 123 The grond that i laubyr. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. iii. 197 He gaue her landes and steddings, with seruandes to labour thame. 1602Carew Cornwall 82 a, To labor the Lords vineyard. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 18 Labouring the soile, and reaping plenteous crop. 1696Phillips (ed. 5) s.v., To Labour the Ground, is to manure the Ground by removing the Earth. 1711Addison Spect. No. 115 ⁋5 The Earth must be laboured before it gives its Increase. 1792A. Young Trav. France 411 The English labourer..hazards much when he labours land for himself. 1824Scott St. Ronan's xxviii, The garden was weeded, and the glebe was regularly laboured. 1833[see laboured ppl. a.]. 1876Morris Sigurd ii. 140 Fair then was the son of Sigmund as he toiled and laboured the ground. 1897Westm. Gaz. 3 Sept. 2/1 A claim must be properly laboured by the owner or by someone paid by him.
2. a. gen. To spend labour upon; to work upon; to produce or execute with labour. (Also with cogn. obj.) Obs. or arch.
c1430Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. lx. (1869) 99 Litel rouht hire of spinnynge, or to laboure ooþer labour. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 67 In eny other welle whiche hathe be laborede by diuerse kynges of Egipte. c1440Jacob's Well 4 Now haue I ymagyd and cast all myn hool werk of þis welle; which I schal laboure to ȝou lxxxix. dayes and v., ere it be performyd. 1523in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 328 All manere goods and marchandis as shalbe labored, tracted, and adventured by ony of the inhabitants of this citie. 15..Withals Dict. (1568) 11/1 Claye labored to make pottes. 1599Broughton's Lett. vii. 24 With this Rabbinicall rubbish..haue you laboured a lomie and sandie building. 1611Bible Transl. Pref. 1 Whether it be by deuising any thing our selues, or reuising that which hath bene laboured by others. 1623Whitbourne Newfoundland 82 The other are to labour the fish at land, (of which sixteene) seuen are to be skilfull headders, and splitters of fish. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 82 They..labour Honey to sustain their Lives. ― æneid vi. 859 Anvils, labour'd by the Cyclops Hands. 1725Pope Odyss. viii. 317 A wondrous net he labours. 1830Tennyson Poems 111 Love laboured honey busily. I was the hive and Love the bee. 1832Standish Maid of Jaen 8 The diamond labour'd from the mine.
†b. to labour one's needs: to work for one's livelihood. Obs.
c1400Rom. Rose 6688 A man..That..wol but only bidde his bedis, And never with honde laboure his nedis.
†3. To use labour upon in rubbing, pounding, or the like; hence, to rub, pound, beat, etc. (Cf. work vb.) Obs.
1486Bk. St. Albans a v b, Take y⊇ white of an egge, & labur thessame in a sponge. 1544T. Phaer Regim. (1560) S iij b, Laboure the sope and the rose water wel together. Ibid. S vi b, Red coral..hanged about the neck, wherupon the childe should oftentymes labour his gummes. 1569R. Androse tr. Alexis' Secr. iv. iii. 25 Boyle them, laboring them with the spatter. 1607Markham Caval. ii. (1617) 79 As he trotteth, labour his contrarie side with the calfe of your leg. a1661Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 486 Take to every six gallons of water one gallon of the finest honey, and put into the boorn, and labour it together half an hour.
4. To belabour, ply with blows. Obs. exc. dial.
1594Carew Huart's Exam. Wits xiii. (1596) 211 The Asse.. if he be laboured with a cudgell, he setteth not by it. 1645Sir H. Slingsby Diary (1836) 177 Our horse did so fast labour ym wth their longe tucks yt they could not endure it. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 639 Take a Plant of stubborn Oak; And labour him with many a sturdy Stroak.
mod. Sc. He took a stick an' laubor'd [or labber'd] the beast terrible wi'd.
5. a. To work at or treat laboriously; to take great pains with (a matter); to work out in detail, to elaborate. Now almost exclusively in to labour a point, labour a question, and similar expressions.
c1449Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 91 So preciose and vnlackeable occupacion to be had and laborid among hem. 1548Udall Erasmus Par. Pref. 13 b, Verai fewe studentes dooe vse to reade and laboure any one autour in any one particuler facultee or disciplyne. 1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxiii. §5. 220 Science of government, which we see is laboured and in some part reduced. a1619M. Fotherby Atheomastix ii. xi. §4 (1622) 317 Which point, hee..hath laboured exactly, with much finenesse and subtility. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. lii, The Invention of the New-River-Water was much labour'd. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 92 ⁋12 These lines, laboured with great attention. c1750Shenstone Solicitude 29 How the nightingales labour the strain. 1784Cowper Task iii. 787 Th' accomplished plan That he has touch'd, retouch'd, many a long day Labor'd, and many a night pursued in dreams. 1797Burke Regic. Peace iv. Wks. 1842 II. 357 Though he labours this point, yet he confesses a fact..which renders all his labours utterly fruitless. 1846Ellis Elgin Marbles II. 225 In a single figure, parts are often highly laboured. 1863C. Clarke Shakesp. Char. x. 254 The reason why the poet has so laboured the character of his hero. 1892A. J. Balfour Sp. in Standard 11 Apr. 3/5, I do not desire on the present occasion to labour this proposition.
†b. = elaborate v. 2. Obs.
1615Crooke Body of Man 373 In the cauity of this ventricle the vitall spirits are laboured. 1668Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. ii. vi. 96 The Heart..is the fountain of Life and labors the vital Spirits.
6. To endeavour to bring about (a state of things); to work for or with a view to (a result); to work hard for (a cause or the like). (Cf. 12.) Obs. or arch.
In early legal use often associated with sue.
1439E.E. Wills (1882) 118 The mater so to be laboryd and sewyd that he be constrayned ther to do hit. 1463in Bury Wills (Camden) 40 If ony wil laboure the contrarye. 1484Certificate in Surtees Misc. (1890) 42 Þe foresaid forged and untrue testimonyall, shewed [? read sewed] & labord by þe said Richard Davis. 1523in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 328 If ony such parson..shall sue or laboure ony such writte. 1611B. Jonson Catiline iii. i, Two things I must labour, That neither they upbraid, nor you repent you. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage, Descr. India (1864) 28 The Mother of Echebar..laboured a peace, but not preuailing, fell sicke. 1639Fuller Holy War iv. xviii. (1647) 199 [She] laboured his cause day and night. a1661― Worthies (1840) III. 2 When Shat-over woods..were likely to be cut down, the university by letters labored their preservation. 1678Dryden Kind Keeper ii. i. Dram. Wks. 1725 IV. 303 Is this a Song to be sung at such a time when I am labouring your Reconcilement? 1742Young Nt. Th. 52 And labour that first palm of noble minds, A manly scorn of terror from the tomb. 1793Burke Observ. Cond. Minority Wks. 1842 I. 612 How much I wished for, and how earnestly I laboured, that re-union. 1817Jas. Mill Brit. India I. iii. iv. 621 In labouring the ruin of Nujeeb ad Dowlah.
†7.
a. To endeavour to influence or persuade; to urge or entreat. (Cf. 13.) Obs.
1461Paston Lett. No. 404 II. 31 Tudynham, Stapylton, and Heydon, with theyr affenyte labur the Kyng and Lords unto my hurt. 1556J. Heywood Spider & F. lv. title, The butterflie..fleeth into the tree: laboring the flies to haue the ant heerd speake ere he die. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 1225/2 He was laboured and solicited dailie by wise and learned fathers, to recant his diuelish & erronious opinions. 1598Spenser in Wks. (ed. Grosart) I. 539 The landlords..began..to labour the Erle of Tireone vnto theire parte. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 604 Hee began cunningly to labour divers of the noblemen one by one. 1622Bacon Hen. VII 119 Yet would not the French King deliver him up to King Henry (as hee was laboured to doe). 1633Campion Hist. Irel. ii. iii. 75 [He] laboured the King..earnestly for their pardons and obtained it.
†b. To advocate strenuously, urge (a matter).
1477Paston Lett. No. 785 III. 172 That ye schuld labur the mater to my maister. 1616F. Cottington in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 183 Much it is laboured there that he should come as ordinary, and not for a small time.
†8. (with compl.) To bring into a specified condition or position by strenuous exertion. Obs.
c1485Digby Myst. iii. 1823 Þer is a woman..þat hether hath laberyd me owt of mercyll. 1550Crowley Way to Wealth 171 Loke if thou haue not laboured him oute of his house or ground. 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. v. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 134, I have beene labouring generall favour firme. 1611Second Maiden's Trag. v. ii. in Hazl. Dodsley X. 465 Our arms and lips Shall labour life into her. Wake, sweet mistress! 1615T. Adams Spirit. Navigator 34 Whiles he labours them to Hell, winde and Tide are on his side. a1617P. Bayne Ephes. (1658) 17 Men must labour their hearts to a sense of the worth of the benefits. 1633Earl of Manchester Al Mondo (1636) 16 To labour the eye to see darknesse. 1655Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 151 Drink..a good Draught of your strongest Beer..and then labour it out, as Plowmen do. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 65 Sisyphus that labours up the Hill The rowling Rock in vain.
†9.
a. To impose labour upon; to work (an animal); to use (the body or its parts, occas. the mind) in some work. Obs. exc. poet.
1470–85Malory Arthur xviii. xvii, The hors was passynge lusty and fresshe by cause he was not laboured a moneth afore. c1500Yng. Children's Bk. in Babees Bk. (1868) 19 A byrde hath wenges forto fle, So man hath Armes laboryd to be. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 303 b, Thou were so ferre ouer laboured & faynt for payne. 1535Coverdale Deut. xxi. 3 A yonge cowe which hath not bene laboured, ner hath drawen in the yocke. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 46 A pastyme..where euery parte of the bodye must be laboured. 1638Tarlton's Test. C j b, My fore-horse..being let bloud and drencht yesterday, I durst not labour him. 1671Milton Samson 1298 This Idols day..Labouring thy mind More then the working day thy hands. 1872Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 31 But Kay the seneschal who loved him not Would hustle and harry him, and labour him Beyond his comrade of the hearth.
†b. To cause to undergo fatigue. Obs.
c1386Chaucer Shipman's T. 1298, I trowe..that our gode man Hath yow laboured sith the night bigan. c1400Destr. Troy 13490 A tempest hym toke..Þat myche laburt the lede er he lond caght. 1496Bk. St. Albans, Fishing (1810) h v, Yf it fortune you to smyte a grete fysshe wyth a smalle harnays: thenne ye must lede hym in the water and labour him there tyll he be drownyd and ouercome. 1632J. Featley Hon. Chast. 25, I will not labour your eares with the many and vulgar arguments to prove a God.
†10. To burden, overwhelm, oppress, distress.
1450–1530Myrr. Our Ladye 240 The drede of god, by whiche she was ful sore laboured & troubeled. 1482Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 19 Sore labouryd with gret febulnes and wekenes. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xviii. (1632) 908 Nature being sore laboured, sore wearied and weakned.
II. Intransitive senses.
11. a. To use labour, to exert one's powers of body or mind; in early use chiefly said of physical work, esp. performed with the object of gaining a livelihood; to exert oneself, toil; to work, esp. to work hard or against difficulties.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 26, I wol helpe þee to labore whil my lyf lastiþ. Ibid. 117 We haue no lymes to labore [C. ix. 135 laborie] with. Ibid. 259 Þat Fisyk schal..beo fayn..his fisyk to lete, And leorne to labre wiþe lond leste lyflode faile. Ibid. B. xv. 182 Þanne wil he some tyme Labory in a lauendrye. c1386Chaucer Merch. T. 387 He..preyde hem to labouren in this nede, And shapen that he faille nat to spede. 1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 267 Not..to laboure on þe lawe as lewde men on plowes. c1400Mandeville (1839) vi. 64 Thei tylen not the Lond, ne thei laboure noughte. c1400Destr. Troy 5862 He..Hade laburt so longe, hym list for to rest. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xiv. (1885) 142 This serche..hath be a digression ffrom the mater in wich we labour. 1542Brinklow Compl. xvi. (1874) 40 He that laboryth not, let him not eate. 1611Bible Isa. xlix. 4, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought. 1651Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxx. 181 It is not enough, for a man to labour for the maintenance of his life. 1698Fryer East India & P. 111 Who Run..or else Dance so many hours to a Tune..when they labour as much as a Lancashire man does at Roger of Coverly. 1770Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 239 Those who laboured at the oars. 1895Bookman Oct. 16/2 [He] labours hard over his proofs of the book.
indirect pass.1715De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. i. (1841) I. 22 You must be instructed and laboured with to be a good child.
†b. refl. in same sense. Obs.
c1374Chaucer Troylus iv. 981 (1009), I mene as though I laboured me in this, To enqueren which thing cause of which thing be. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. C viij b/1 Grete in contemplacion of heuenly thynges and a tylyar in labouryng hymself. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 171 b, The more yu enforcest & labourest thy selfe in y⊇ begynnynge.
12. To exert oneself, strive (for some end); to endeavour strenuously (to accomplish or bring about something).
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxxxvii. (1495) 836 They..labouren to helpe eche other wyth all theyr myghte. c1430Lydg. Assembly of Gods 847 Laboryng the Seruyce of God to Multyply. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxi. 10 Is nane of ws..Bot laubouris ay for vthiris distructioun. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 2 b, They laboured..to knowe the natures of thynges in this worlde. 1535Coverdale Ps. cxx. 7, I laboured for peace. ― 2 Macc. iv. 7 Iason the brother of Onias laboured to be hye prest. 1604E. G[rimstone] D' Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. iv. 131 They which saile from West to East, labour alwaies to be out of the burning Zone. 1611Bible Isa. xxii. 4, I will weepe bitterly, labour not to comfort me. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 191 For your highness' good I ever labour'd More than mine own. 1682Dryden Mac Flecknoe 157 When false flowers of rhetoric thou would'st cull, Trust nature, do not labour to be dull. 1711Steele Spect. No. 95 ⁋4 True Affliction labours to be invisible. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xxv, I laboured to become cheerful. 1796Jane Austen Pride & Prej. vii, Most earnestly did she labour to prove the probability of error. a1862Buckle Civiliz. (1873) III. v. 387 Water is constantly labouring to reduce all the inequalities of the earth to a single level. 1874Green Short Hist. vii. §3 (1882) 371 Parker was labouring for a uniformity of faith and worship amongst the clergy.
†13. To exert one's influence in urging a suit or to obtain something desired. Const. to (a person).
1475Plumpton Corr. 31, I have receaved from you diverse letters..that I shold labour to Sir John Pilkinton, to labor to my lord of Glocester or to the king. Ibid. 51 This day com Wylliam Plompton to labor for Haveray Parke. 1533More Apol. viii. Wks. 860/2 If I desired a manne to geue me a thynge, and laboured muche to hym therefore. c1555Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (Camden) 236 He laboured to the Pope to have a dispensation. 1577–87Holinshed Chron. I. 188/1 His coosen..who was about to labour to the king for his pardon.
14. a. To move or travel, esp. with implication of painful exertion or impeded progress. lit. and fig. Now rare.
a1400–50Alexander 4814 Þai labourde vp a-gayn þe lift an elleuen dais. c1450Lonelich Grail xlii. 82 Nasciens that In the se was Abrod, Vpp and down labowred. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xxiv. 34 The kynge..retourned agayne into Englande, and laboured so longe that he came to Wyndesor. 1530Palsgr. 600/2 This horse is nat very fayre, but he laboureth well on the waye,..il chemine bien. 1611Bible Josh. vii. 3 Let about two or three thousand men goe vp,..and make not all the people to labour thither. 1715–20Pope Iliad xii. 458 He poised, and swung it round; then, toss'd on high, It flew with force and labour'd up the sky. 1877L. Morris Epic of Hades i. 3 The stream Which laboured in the distance to the sea.
b. quasi-trans. to labour one's way: to pursue it laboriously.
1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxiii. 231 Laboring our way with great difficulty upon the ice-belt.
†c. To make little progress, suffer impediments.
1736Chandler Hist. Persec. 360 The job was labouring for three years space. 1765T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. iii. 360 A petition of Capt. Hutchinson and others labored, although their title was originally derived from the Indian sachems and proprietors, and the lands had been long possessed.
15. To be burdened, troubled, or distressed, as by disease, want, etc.; to be trammelled by or suffer from some disadvantage or defect. Const. under (also † of, with, on, in).
c1470Henry Wallace vii. 345 Lawberand [v.r. laubourit] in mynd thai had beyne all that day. 1578Banister Hist. Man i. 16 No maruaile..if the eye in dolour labouryng, this Muscle sometyme be affected also. 1615G. Sandys Trav. 106 Whereby vnprofitable marishes were drained..and such places relieued as laboured with the penury of waters. 1641Milton Reform. ii. (1851) 69 This our shaken Monarchy, that now lies labouring under her throwes. 1644Bulwer Chiron. 15 Speech labours of a blinde crampe, when it is too concise, confused or obscure. 1662H. More Philos. Writings Pref. general xi, Men of very excellent spirits may labour with prejudice against so worthy an Authour. a1677Barrow Euclid (1714) Pref. 3 Seems..to labour under a double Defect. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 746 The wheasing Swine With Coughs is choak'd, and labours from the Chine. 1709Berkeley Ess. Vision §83 The visive faculty..may be found to labour of two defects. 1712Addison Spect. No. 267 ⁋3 Aristotle himself allows, that Homer has nothing to boast of as to the Unity of his Fable..Some have been of opinion, that the æneid also labours in this Particular. 1769Warburton Lett. (1809) 434, I was then labouring on my old rheumatic disorder. I have not yet got rid of it. 1784tr. Beckford's Vathek (1868) 113 From time to time he laboured with profound sighs. 1839in Spirit Metrop. Conserv. Press (1840) I. 273 Some timid conservatives..labour in the same mistake. 1857Kingsley Two Y. Ago (1877) 416 You are labouring under an entire misapprehension. 1862Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. iv. 110 If he laboured under a perpetual toothache.
†16. Of women: To suffer the pains of childbirth; to travail. Also fig. Obs.
1454Paston Lett. I. 274 Aftir she was arestid she laboured of hir child, that she is with all. 1527Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters K iv, Yf a woman dronke it, the chylde sholde dye, and she sholde laboure before her ryght tyme. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Litany, All women labouryng of chylde. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 521 When great things labouring perish in their birth. 1604― Oth. ii. i. 128 But my Muse labours, and thus she is deliuer'd. 1653Parish Reg. Finghall, Yks. (MS.), Baptised Elizabeth the daughter of John Parke of Wensley, whose wife laboured at Burton in her journey homeward. 1711Pope Temple of Fame 212 Here, like some furious prophet, Pindar rode, And seem'd to labour with th' inspiring God.
17. Of a ship: To roll or pitch heavily at sea.
1627Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ix. 40 We say a ship doth Labour much when she doth rowle much any way. 1748Anson's Voy. i. vi. 104 The ship laboured very much in a hollow sea. 1819Byron Juan ii. xli, The ship labour'd so, they scarce could hope To weather out much longer. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxv. 82 The ship was labouring hard under her top-gallant sails.
[II.] [14.] [a.] Delete ‘Now rare’ and add later examples.
1934H. Roth Call it Sleep iii. v. 319 She shuffled toward a nearby house and labored slowly up the stoop. 1970J. Dickey Deliverance 124 We hauled and laboured away from the creek between the big water oak trunks. 1985W. McIlvanney Big Man iii. 71 Frankie was on his bike and going. Dan had no option but to labour after him.
[16.] Delete † Obs. and add: Revived in lit. sense: To go through the process of giving birth.
1974Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. II. xl. 16/1 In Scandinavia many women labour without any analgesia. 1986Times 31 Jan. 11/2 A large majority of women labour successfully and have a normal delivery.
[17.] b. Of an engine of a motor vehicle, etc.: to work noisily and with difficulty, esp. while climbing a steep gradient.
1961Scots Mag. Mar. 487/1 The engine laboured to a standstill. 1969M. Pugh Last Place Left xv. 108 He was in third on the flat and labouring in top when we crested the hill. 1983J. Coetzee Life & Times Michael K i. 56 The engine began to labour as they entered the mountains. 1985R. L. Harrison Aviation Lore in Faulkner 114 At the onset of the stall, the controls go slack and the engine labors vainly to keep the machine climbing. |
