1.
[syn: drudging, laboring, labouring, toiling]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.
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Adam, well may we labor still to dress
This garden. --Milton.
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2. To exert one's powers of mind in the prosecution of any
design; to strive; to take pains.
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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.
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The stone that labors up the hill. --Granville.
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The line too labors, and the words move slow.
--Pope.
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To cure the disorder under which he labored. --Sir
W. Scott.
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Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. --Matt. xi. 28
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4. To be in travail; to suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be
in labor.
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5. (Naut.) To pitch or roll heavily, as a ship in a turbulent
sea. --Totten.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Laboring \La"bor*ing\, a.
1. That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse,
heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor;
as, laboring days.
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The sleep of a laboring man is sweet. --Eccl. v. 12.
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2. Suffering pain or grief. --Pope.
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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.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
laboring
adj 1: doing arduous or unpleasant work; "drudging peasants";
"the bent backs of laboring slaves picking cotton";
"toiling coal miners in the black deeps" [syn:
drudging, laboring, labouring, toiling]