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1. A social class comprising those who do manual labour or work for wages
   "there is a shortage of skilled labour in this field";
   - labor [US], working class, proletariat, proletariate [archaic]
    
2. Productive work (especially physical work done for wages)
   "his labour did not require a great deal of skill";
   - labor [US], toil
    
3. Concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
   "she was in labour for six hours";
   - parturiency, labor [US], confinement, lying-in, travail, childbed [archaic]
    
4. An organized attempt by workers to improve their status by united action (particularly via labour unions) or the leaders of this movement
   - labor movement [US, Austral], trade union movement, labor [US], labour movement [Brit, Cdn]
    
5. Any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted
   "he prepared for great labours";
   - undertaking, project, task, labor [US]

1. Strive and make an effort to reach a goal
   "She laboured for years to make a decent living";
   - tug, labor [US], push, drive, sweat
    
2. Work hard
   "Lexicographers labour all day long";
   - labor [US], toil, fag, travail, grind, drudge, dig, moil [N. Amer]
    
3. Undergo the efforts of childbirth
   - labor [US]

1. A political party formed in Great Britain in 1900; characterized by the promotion of labour's interests and formerly the socialization of key industries
   - British Labour Party, Labour Party [UK], Labor [US]

Derived forms: laboured, labours, labouring

Type of: birth, birthing, class, do work, experience, fight, giving birth, have, labor party [US], labour party [Brit, Cdn], parturition, party, political party, reform movement, social class, socio-economic class, stratum, struggle, undergo, work

Part of: gestation, maternity, pregnancy

Encyclopedia: Labour