Definition of labour in English:

labour

(US labor)

noun ˈleɪbəˈleɪbər

mass noun

1Work, especially physical work.
劳动（尤指重体力劳动）
the price of repairs includes labour, parts, and VAT
修理价格包括人工、零件和增值税。
manual labour
体力劳动。
Example sentencesExamples
- These subjects were agricultural workers with varying periods of manual labour in the field.
- According to him, many unwaged Russians survive on handouts from friends and relatives, subsistence agriculture, casual labour, petty trading or petty crime.
- Since the start of the industrial revolution people have been paid a pittance for manual labor.
- Next time, though, I'll be employing my teenage cousins to do the manual labour and keeping my hands out of the sink.
- The majority of migrant workers earn their living in the city by doing manual labour.
- Most are low-end workers doing street-cleaning or other manual labor.
- The men go off and look for casual labour during the day while women and children spend the day looking for shade.
Synonyms
work, toil, employment, exertion, industry, industriousness, toiling, hard work, hard labour, drudgery, effort, the sweat of one's brow, donkey work, menial work
informal slog, grind, sweat, elbow grease
British informal graft
archaic travail, moil
task, job, chore, undertaking, mission, commission, assignment
1. 1.1 Workers, especially manual workers, considered collectively.
  总称劳动者，劳工
  non-union casual labour
  非工会会员的临时工人。
  Example sentencesExamples
  If the South was exceptional, it was not in worker resistance to organized labor, but employer resistance.
  Coming to the London docks he was shocked at the misery and poverty of casual labour and organized a docker's union.
  Those who were less keen to compete for migrants could resort to convicts as casual labour.
  In this society, his job was one of the few, in which people exactly performed manual labor.
  The trade unions have made repeated warnings to Railtrack about the use of casual labour on the lines but to no avail.
  He said there would be real implications for his company when he employed casual or part-time labour, and brought staff in and out.
  Some institutions contract the work out to casual labour with little continuity and stability for the student.
  Wage-labour was essentially casual labour, as employed at harvest time.
  Their work will be contracted out to private companies that employ largely nonunion low-paid labor.
  It also aims to replace a number of full-time workers with casual and part-time labour.
  As a result, the place is being built with non-union labor.
  I also defend our right to civil protest when city projects employ less qualified nonunion labor.
  The Tories were keen to get rid of the National Dock Labour Scheme, which protected dockers from casual labour.
  Using casual labour has become a key means by which many employers seek to evade established standards.
  Today there is a growing acceptance of illegal casual labour and a strong demand for it.
  These people, gangmasters, have been around for years, bringing casual labour into the fields and exploiting a lot of farm workers for some time.
  The company is planning to sell or lease the mine and operate it using casual labour and new technology.
  Excluding temporary manufacturing labor, 785,000 factory workers have lost their jobs over the past 11 months.
  The tile company had callously sacked 29 regular workers and replaced them with casual labour supplied by Skilled.
  Unions say it puts the brakes on a 20-year trend towards casual labour, but employer groups are calling it a disappointing and costly precedent.
  Synonyms
  workers, employees, workmen, workforce, staff, working people, blue-collar workers, hands, labourers, labour force, hired hands, proletariat, wage-earners, manpower, human resources, personnel
  humorous liveware
2. 1.2 Workers considered as a social class or political force.
  劳工阶级，工人阶级
  as modifier the labour movement
  工人运动。
  Example sentencesExamples
  Steelworkers Canadian director Ken Neumann said the merger creates a new force in the Canadian labour movement, as well as in federal and provincial politics.
  These developments have also resulted in a political and intellectual crisis within the labour movement.
  Fourth, the working class and labour movement, repressed, shackled, lacking independence, was no alternative.
  These objective changes in the world economy have undermined the post-war framework of labour protection and social measures.
  He looks to struggles independent of political parties, the official labour movement, or any other organised forces.
  The labor movement's political clout is waning with most red states having right to work laws that effectively ban unions.
  From here we are treated to an account of Watson's rise through the political labour movement.
  For the past 25 years he has been documenting the immigrant experience in Canada, working class culture and the labour movement.
  That same impulse brought the entire Canadian labor movement out in force.
  There is no section of the official labor movement that upholds the most elementary principles of working class solidarity.
  These forces have also weakened labor movements in many other industrial countries.
  The result is that since the mid-1980s the organized labour movement was no longer a major social and political factor.
  Your situation highlights the tragedy of the American labor movement and the dilemma facing the working class today.
  The working class and the labour movement are not like they were in the 1970s.
  But turning labour into a political force to be reckoned with in Alberta is a tall order, which McGowan clearly outlined in his paper.
  Without an understanding of the role of Stalinism and Social Democracy, the labour movement will not be able to turn once again to a socialist perspective.
  For Trotsky, what determined his attitude to all tendencies within the Russian social democratic labor movement was their perspective, their program.
  Over time Walesa became active in the underground labour movement and witnessed the repression of workers' protests in the 1970s.
  The answer came when one delegate rose to address the notion of political action by the labour movement.
  The death of Glen Branagh is a warning to the labour movement and the working class that bloody sectarian conflict is not a thing of the past in Northern Ireland.
3. 1.3as modifier A government department concerned with a nation's workforce.
  （政府的）劳工部门
  the Labour Secretary
  劳工部部长的职位。
  Example sentencesExamples
  This was announced at the end of last week by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.
2treated as singular or plural The Labour Party.
工党
as modifier the Labour leader
工党领袖。
Example sentencesExamples
- Okay, the Tories are gaining big from Labour and the Lib Dems in the South.
- It is not the first time Tory James Gray and Labour's Tony Banks have clashed.
- Pollster Sol Lebovic from Newspoll, says this is a reality check for Labor.
- Assuming all the above, and that Labor regains Cunningham, the Parliament would look like this.
- South Swindon has a new Member of Parliament but the seat is still held by Labour.
- The Government is using Labor's rules, after all, they say.
- Pallet maker Richard Mulhall took the Illingworth seat from Labour's Zoe Marston.
- At 4.15 am on Friday, Tony Blair became the first man ever to lead Labour to a third term.
- Her victory means Labour now has 37 seats on Bradford Council, one more than the Tories.
- Labor's Trade Spokesman Stephen Conroy has denied that Labor has caved in.
- Teresa Page was a hard-working councillor and Labour will be sad to see her go.
- Downing Street has the option of going with Prescott and Labour, or with Cameron and the Tories.
- They seem to think that the way to beat Labour is to be more Leftist than Labour!
- In the Senate, Labor's John Faulkner asked for an explanation.
- At the moment in the 25 seat House of Assembly, Labor have 14, the Liberals seven and the Greens four.
- Chairman of the Labour Group, Coun Norma Lincoln, said Labour would fight back.
- But Labor's Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, Chris Evans, questions that.
- Julie Flynn, the Chief Executive of Free TV Australia says Labor's ban is simplistic and won't work.
- I was joined a short time ago by Labor's Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Kevin Rudd.
- Concisely, here is the problem: Labor is the party of the Left.
3The process of childbirth from the start of uterine contractions to delivery.
分娩
a woman in labour
产妇。
Example sentencesExamples
- The challenge for obstetricians is to make sure that options for safe delivery are not limited for women who experience complications in labour.
- Catherine suffered in labor for many hours, and finally the doctors had to perform a Caesarean section.
- Red raspberry leaves are used to enhance uterine contractions once labor is initiated.
- I was in labour for twenty-two hours with Evan Michael's brother.
- By the time Michael had called them, Jamie had already been in labor four hours.
- It says that cerebral palsy is almost never caused by fetal distress in labor.
- An HIV specialist should be contacted immediately if the diagnosis is made in labour.
- Low dose mobile epidurals are generally more attractive to women in labour than traditional epidural techniques.
- They also received 300 mg every three hours while in labor until delivery.
- The drug prostaglandin is injected into the womb and this causes it to contract strongly as in labour.
- Measles in pregnancy can cause miscarriage, premature labour or a baby with low birth weight.
- It has long been the practice to allow family members to be present in labor and delivery.
- She tells us tales of ambulances collecting women in labour to take them to the hospital delivery suites, only to be held up at a checkpoint where the women give birth.
- Both women spent four hours in labour and both gave birth to baby daughters.
- Both Lamaze and Bradley encourage partner participation in labor and delivery.
- Kory's mom has been in labor for an hour and a half.
- Such rigorous application of the guidelines would, however, have resulted in antibiotics being given to 16% of all women in labour.
- The pregnancy went smoothly and Mrs Filer gave birth after being in labour for five hours.
- They can also improve your posture and strengthen your abdominal muscles for labor and delivery.
- Fortunately, the body provides several clues that the onset of labor is approaching.
Synonyms
childbirth, birth, birthing, delivery, nativity
contractions, labour pains, labour pangs, labour throes
technical parturition
archaic confinement, accouchement, lying-in, childbed, travail
4rare A group of moles.
a labour of moles toils with the Earth
Example sentencesExamples
- The labour of moles has caused some messy practical problems for the grass cutters.
- The labor of moles dig dexterously underground.

verb ˈleɪbəˈleɪbər

[no object]

1Work hard; make great effort.
苦干，努力
they laboured from dawn to dusk
他们分两班从早干到晚。
she was patiently labouring over her sketchbooks
Example sentencesExamples
- And like Mr Sherry, Mr Hillier has laboured for many years and has likewise produced three heavy volumes, the last of which is about to see the light of day in the bookshops.
- Suppose that one worker labors for five consecutive years to produce one such engine.
- This modification was typical of the hard-working ground crews who would labor day and night to find solutions for the problems that came up in this new theater of war.
- Teachers Simon Gibson and Bob Granger have spent every spare moment between classes for the past few weeks labouring to produce a drinking cup holder for Bradley who has severely limited mobility.
- In this atmosphere, the House of Representatives has labored hard.
- Each labored many years as an attorney before moving to the front office.
- Parts and maintenance manuals were in short supply as the ground crews labored to prepare as many P - 39s for combat as possible.
- But those very wonders are also symbols of oppressive and overbearing states that could coerce hundreds of thousands to spend their lives laboring on projects erected to enhance the ruling class.
- David Evans from Wales, the lanky but smooth attacker who has been quietly laboring to bring his game back to the world class form he briefly displayed four years ago, took a small step on that road last night.
- She seemed not to care that the rest of the class was labouring effortlessly on their reports.
- For years I had labored over a manual that would include all of this.
- At 51, she breathes with real difficulty, wheezing and labouring to draw breath as we talk.
- Because of the current shifts and perhaps unpredictable forces in today's labour market, these demands may seem unrealistic.
Synonyms
work (hard), toil, slave (away), grub away, plod away, grind away, sweat away, struggle, strive, exert oneself, overwork, work one's fingers to the bone, work like a Trojan/dog/slave, keep one's nose to the grindstone
informal slog away, kill oneself, plug away, put one's back into something, peg away
British informal graft
archaic drudge, travail, moil
1. 1.1 Work at an unskilled manual occupation.
  从事非技术性体力工作
  he was eking out an existence by labouring
  他靠做体力活糊口。
  Example sentencesExamples
  Forsaking the books, it was pick and shovel for a year of manual labouring for the young David.
  And she actively fought for the most dispossessed of that class, those who labored in the nation's fields.
  On Saturday, John Paul slept in his old bed, visited his old street and drove by the quarry, no longer used, where he laboured during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
  They also repaired, refitted, and caulked ships in the harbor, laboring for a $1.00 a day for their master.
2. 1.2archaic with object Till (the ground)
  〈古〉耕（地）
  the land belonged to him who laboured it
  耕者有其田。
2Have difficulty in doing something despite working hard.
勉为其难地苦干；干得吃力但仍难应付
United laboured against confident opponents
科勒莱恩吃力地招架着自信的对手。
Example sentencesExamples
- The home side struggled to overcome Edinburgh, but despite labouring for long periods the grit of the Irish forwards eventually saw them through.
- Life steadily worsened, and though a few maintained quick riches in the short-term, most people labored more and more just to maintain short-term existence.
- He was laden with a heavy old radio and was labouring to keep up.
- There had been a failure specifically to identify favourable material, but that was attributed to the difficulties under which the applicant has been labouring by reason of having been detained.
- Brazil labored to another unconvincing victory at the World Cup on Sunday, qualifying for the second round by beating Australia 2-0 and substituting an ineffective Ronaldo for the second game in a row.
- I loved him so much, and it would kill me to see him grunting and struggling as he laboured to move himself from the bed to the chair.
Synonyms
strive, struggle, endeavour, work, try hard, make every effort, do one's best, do one's utmost, do all one can, give (it/something) one's all, go all out, fight, push, be at pains, put oneself out, apply oneself, exert oneself
informal bend/fall/lean over backwards, give it one's best shot, pull out all the stops
1. 2.1with adverbial of direction Move or proceed with difficulty.
  费力地移动（或前进）
  they laboured up a steep, tortuous track
  他们顺着陡峭、曲折的小路费力地前进。
  Example sentencesExamples
  In the terrible heat, the fugitives labored up a tomb-lined slope toward Nuceria.
  After we'd eaten we walked back along the canal in the sunshine and laboured up the hill before collapsing in front of the TV.
  It laboured up the hills as we climbed to nearly 2000m.
  Our taxis, which had labored up the narrow, winding road, descended much more swiftly.
  There was a full moon, and stories of recent cougar sightings swirled through Nostdal's head as he labored up and down the hilly road.
  She labored up to the stoop, red face partially hidden by brown paper bags.
2. 2.2 (of an engine) work noisily and with difficulty.
  （引擎）发着噪声费力地运转
  the wheels churned, the engine labouring
  轮子剧烈摇动，发动机费力并轰隆轰隆地运转着。
  Example sentencesExamples
  He felt the engine laboring, gathering speed slowly, the breakdown lane narrowing rapidly ahead.
  The engines labored to push the bulky ship off the side of the building and into the air.
  She turned on her radar detector and slid up to a hundred and five, riding easily, her huge engine hardly laboring as she raced through the night.
3. 2.3 (of a ship) roll or pitch heavily.
  （船）颠簸摇晃
  the seas ran high, and the ship laboured hard
  Example sentencesExamples
  The waves were strong, The Heart of Isis laboured heavily and the men were tested sorely, but by nightfall they had cleared the island without finding safe harbor.
  Synonyms
  lurch, toss, toss about, plunge, roll, reel, sway, rock, flounder, keel, list, wallow
3(of a woman in childbirth) be in labour.
she laboured very well and comfortably because she was relaxed

Phrases

a labour of Hercules

see Hercules
Synonyms
task, job, chore, undertaking, mission, commission, assignment

a labour of love

A task done for pleasure, not reward.
只求乐趣不计报酬的工作
he spent eight years rebuilding the house—a labour of love
Example sentencesExamples
- Providing care to a partner or family member, while often a labor of love, requires the skill and grace to ensure your own mental and physical well-being.
- The garments on display in the North American clothing case (near the totem pole) were labours of love and skill.
- Ian, a former factory worker, said: ‘It took me a while but it's a labour of love really.’
- It was a labour of love, and he liked to keep his mind busy.
- Since I usually get paid by the word (except for labours of love, of course, like this review), I'm all in favour of that.
- You're right, it was a labor of love.
- They are labours of love with a strong sense of purpose.
- Yes, some sites are probably close enough to labours of love, created by people who have genuine day jobs who don't appear to be too interested in branching out on their own.
- But this is not all: there are many direct encouragements for our perseverance in these labours of love.
- These and the other films scheduled have all been labours of love.

labour the point

Explain or discuss something at excessive length.
啰唆地解释（或讨论）
Example sentencesExamples
- If I am labouring the point it is for a reason.
- Without laboring the point too much, your duties as a responsible tourist continue after you have returned home.
- It would be labouring the point, perhaps, to point out that most towns have at least one small gallery.
- I made this choice because the charts labored the point and didn't add anything to the book's content.
- This labours the point, and I apologise for doing so, but none offer an alternative to our current position.
- It was simply that the play rather laboured the point at times and was, in truth, simply too long.
- In these books she laboured the point tenaciously that women were superior in all things.
- The council labours the point that the benchmark return for a company is the ‘risk-free’ return shareholders could earn on their investment.
- In my own writings, I have always laboured the point that beer can be used in many different ways: as a marinade, in braising, sauces, batters, doughs, and so forth.
- At the risk of laboring the point, we believe, high morale is the cornerstone of any successful organization.
Synonyms
overemphasize, belabour, overstress, lay too much emphasis on, place too much emphasis on, overdo, strain, over-elaborate, overplay, attach too much importance to, attach too much weight to, make too much of, exaggerate, dwell on, harp on, harp on about, expound on, expand

Phrasal Verbs

labour under

1Carry (a very heavy load) with difficulty.
费力地搬（重物）
two servants appeared, labouring under the weight of a kitchen table
2Be misled by (a mistaken belief)
被（错误想法）蒙蔽（或误导）
you've been labouring under a misapprehension
你被一点点误会蒙蔽了。
Example sentencesExamples
- Many individuals labor under the mistaken assumption that they already know a great deal about film, television, and the other mass media simply because they view and use them all the time.
- Chances are you've been laboring under the misguided belief that you're an artist.
- We are labouring under the illusion that we are in control and free of constraints when in truth we are out of control and morally bankrupt.
- Today, many of us labor under the mistaken notion that natural wood is by its nature preferable to painted wood, no matter what.
- I think they are laboring under the belief that the state has put up everything they've got to show, that Amber's the icing on the cake.
- He hoped they were laboring under that belief because there was something he had to get before he could leave town.
- They appear to labour under several misapprehensions.
- I was marginally shocked when they sat down beside me; I was still labouring under the belief that guys were way too cool to sit cross - legged, especially on the grass.
- I'm always open to listening to new artists, labouring under the belief that all artists were at some point new and that they had to be given their fair shake.
- Here I am labouring under the misconception that progress regarding our treatment and understanding of others, and otherness, had been made.
Synonyms
suffer from, be a victim of, be burdened by, be overburdened by, be disadvantaged by, be under

Origin

Middle English: from Old French labour (noun), labourer (verb), both from Latin labor 'toil, trouble'.

Labour came into English through French from Latin labor ‘toil, distress, trouble’, also found in laboratory (early 17th century) a place of work, and elaborate (late 16th century) ‘produced by much labour’. In the late 18th century the Scottish economist Adam Smith used the word technically for work directed towards providing the needs of a community, and paved the way for the use of labour in political contexts. The British Labour Party was formed in 1906 to represent ordinary working people. A task requiring enormous strength or effort is a labour of Hercules or a Herculean labour. In Greek mythology Hercules had superhuman strength and performed twelve tasks or ‘labours’ imposed on him as a penance for killing his children in a fit of madness. After his death he was ranked among the gods.

Definition of labor in US English:

labor

(British labour)

nounˈlābərˈleɪbər

1Work, especially hard physical work.
劳动（尤指重体力劳动）
the price of repairs includes labor and parts
修理价格包括人工、零件和增值税。
manual labor
体力劳动。
Example sentencesExamples
- According to him, many unwaged Russians survive on handouts from friends and relatives, subsistence agriculture, casual labour, petty trading or petty crime.
- The men go off and look for casual labour during the day while women and children spend the day looking for shade.
- These subjects were agricultural workers with varying periods of manual labour in the field.
- The majority of migrant workers earn their living in the city by doing manual labour.
- Next time, though, I'll be employing my teenage cousins to do the manual labour and keeping my hands out of the sink.
- Since the start of the industrial revolution people have been paid a pittance for manual labor.
- Most are low-end workers doing street-cleaning or other manual labor.
Synonyms
task, job, chore, undertaking, mission, commission, assignment
work, toil, employment, exertion, industry, industriousness, toiling, hard work, hard labour, drudgery, effort, the sweat of one's brow, donkey work, menial work
1. 1.1 Workers, especially manual workers, considered collectively.
  总称劳动者，劳工
  nonunion casual labor
  非工会会员的临时工人。
  Example sentencesExamples
  As a result, the place is being built with non-union labor.
  Those who were less keen to compete for migrants could resort to convicts as casual labour.
  He said there would be real implications for his company when he employed casual or part-time labour, and brought staff in and out.
  The tile company had callously sacked 29 regular workers and replaced them with casual labour supplied by Skilled.
  These people, gangmasters, have been around for years, bringing casual labour into the fields and exploiting a lot of farm workers for some time.
  The company is planning to sell or lease the mine and operate it using casual labour and new technology.
  It also aims to replace a number of full-time workers with casual and part-time labour.
  The trade unions have made repeated warnings to Railtrack about the use of casual labour on the lines but to no avail.
  Their work will be contracted out to private companies that employ largely nonunion low-paid labor.
  Unions say it puts the brakes on a 20-year trend towards casual labour, but employer groups are calling it a disappointing and costly precedent.
  Today there is a growing acceptance of illegal casual labour and a strong demand for it.
  Excluding temporary manufacturing labor, 785,000 factory workers have lost their jobs over the past 11 months.
  Some institutions contract the work out to casual labour with little continuity and stability for the student.
  Coming to the London docks he was shocked at the misery and poverty of casual labour and organized a docker's union.
  I also defend our right to civil protest when city projects employ less qualified nonunion labor.
  If the South was exceptional, it was not in worker resistance to organized labor, but employer resistance.
  In this society, his job was one of the few, in which people exactly performed manual labor.
  Using casual labour has become a key means by which many employers seek to evade established standards.
  The Tories were keen to get rid of the National Dock Labour Scheme, which protected dockers from casual labour.
  Wage-labour was essentially casual labour, as employed at harvest time.
  Synonyms
  workers, employees, workmen, workforce, staff, working people, blue-collar workers, hands, labourers, labour force, hired hands, proletariat, wage-earners, manpower, human resources, personnel
2. 1.2 Manual workers considered as a social class or political force.
  劳工阶级，工人阶级
  as modifier the labor movement
  工人运动。
  Example sentencesExamples
  For the past 25 years he has been documenting the immigrant experience in Canada, working class culture and the labour movement.
  For Trotsky, what determined his attitude to all tendencies within the Russian social democratic labor movement was their perspective, their program.
  There is no section of the official labor movement that upholds the most elementary principles of working class solidarity.
  He looks to struggles independent of political parties, the official labour movement, or any other organised forces.
  The labor movement's political clout is waning with most red states having right to work laws that effectively ban unions.
  Fourth, the working class and labour movement, repressed, shackled, lacking independence, was no alternative.
  The answer came when one delegate rose to address the notion of political action by the labour movement.
  Steelworkers Canadian director Ken Neumann said the merger creates a new force in the Canadian labour movement, as well as in federal and provincial politics.
  But turning labour into a political force to be reckoned with in Alberta is a tall order, which McGowan clearly outlined in his paper.
  The result is that since the mid-1980s the organized labour movement was no longer a major social and political factor.
  Without an understanding of the role of Stalinism and Social Democracy, the labour movement will not be able to turn once again to a socialist perspective.
  These objective changes in the world economy have undermined the post-war framework of labour protection and social measures.
  That same impulse brought the entire Canadian labor movement out in force.
  These forces have also weakened labor movements in many other industrial countries.
  The working class and the labour movement are not like they were in the 1970s.
  The death of Glen Branagh is a warning to the labour movement and the working class that bloody sectarian conflict is not a thing of the past in Northern Ireland.
  Your situation highlights the tragedy of the American labor movement and the dilemma facing the working class today.
  Over time Walesa became active in the underground labour movement and witnessed the repression of workers' protests in the 1970s.
  From here we are treated to an account of Watson's rise through the political labour movement.
  These developments have also resulted in a political and intellectual crisis within the labour movement.
3. 1.3 A department of government concerned with a nation's workforce.
  （政府的）劳工部门
  Secretary of Labor
  Example sentencesExamples
  This was announced at the end of last week by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.
2treated as singular or plural (in the UK or Canada) the Labour Party.
工党
Example sentencesExamples
- The Government is using Labor's rules, after all, they say.
- In the Senate, Labor's John Faulkner asked for an explanation.
- Downing Street has the option of going with Prescott and Labour, or with Cameron and the Tories.
- They seem to think that the way to beat Labour is to be more Leftist than Labour!
- Pallet maker Richard Mulhall took the Illingworth seat from Labour's Zoe Marston.
- Julie Flynn, the Chief Executive of Free TV Australia says Labor's ban is simplistic and won't work.
- At 4.15 am on Friday, Tony Blair became the first man ever to lead Labour to a third term.
- Pollster Sol Lebovic from Newspoll, says this is a reality check for Labor.
- Chairman of the Labour Group, Coun Norma Lincoln, said Labour would fight back.
- Teresa Page was a hard-working councillor and Labour will be sad to see her go.
- Her victory means Labour now has 37 seats on Bradford Council, one more than the Tories.
- South Swindon has a new Member of Parliament but the seat is still held by Labour.
- At the moment in the 25 seat House of Assembly, Labor have 14, the Liberals seven and the Greens four.
- It is not the first time Tory James Gray and Labour's Tony Banks have clashed.
- I was joined a short time ago by Labor's Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Kevin Rudd.
- Assuming all the above, and that Labor regains Cunningham, the Parliament would look like this.
- Labor's Trade Spokesman Stephen Conroy has denied that Labor has caved in.
- Concisely, here is the problem: Labor is the party of the Left.
- Okay, the Tories are gaining big from Labour and the Lib Dems in the South.
- But Labor's Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, Chris Evans, questions that.
3The process of childbirth, especially the period from the start of uterine contractions to delivery.
分娩
his wife is in labor
Example sentencesExamples
- Both women spent four hours in labour and both gave birth to baby daughters.
- She tells us tales of ambulances collecting women in labour to take them to the hospital delivery suites, only to be held up at a checkpoint where the women give birth.
- An HIV specialist should be contacted immediately if the diagnosis is made in labour.
- Catherine suffered in labor for many hours, and finally the doctors had to perform a Caesarean section.
- It has long been the practice to allow family members to be present in labor and delivery.
- Measles in pregnancy can cause miscarriage, premature labour or a baby with low birth weight.
- Fortunately, the body provides several clues that the onset of labor is approaching.
- They can also improve your posture and strengthen your abdominal muscles for labor and delivery.
- The pregnancy went smoothly and Mrs Filer gave birth after being in labour for five hours.
- By the time Michael had called them, Jamie had already been in labor four hours.
- Low dose mobile epidurals are generally more attractive to women in labour than traditional epidural techniques.
- Such rigorous application of the guidelines would, however, have resulted in antibiotics being given to 16% of all women in labour.
- The drug prostaglandin is injected into the womb and this causes it to contract strongly as in labour.
- They also received 300 mg every three hours while in labor until delivery.
- Red raspberry leaves are used to enhance uterine contractions once labor is initiated.
- The challenge for obstetricians is to make sure that options for safe delivery are not limited for women who experience complications in labour.
- I was in labour for twenty-two hours with Evan Michael's brother.
- It says that cerebral palsy is almost never caused by fetal distress in labor.
- Both Lamaze and Bradley encourage partner participation in labor and delivery.
- Kory's mom has been in labor for an hour and a half.
Synonyms
childbirth, birth, birthing, delivery, nativity

verbˈlābərˈleɪbər

[no object]

1Work hard; make great effort.
苦干，努力
they labored from dawn to dusk
他们分两班从早干到晚。
she was patiently laboring over her sketchbooks
Example sentencesExamples
- Suppose that one worker labors for five consecutive years to produce one such engine.
- But those very wonders are also symbols of oppressive and overbearing states that could coerce hundreds of thousands to spend their lives laboring on projects erected to enhance the ruling class.
- And like Mr Sherry, Mr Hillier has laboured for many years and has likewise produced three heavy volumes, the last of which is about to see the light of day in the bookshops.
- For years I had labored over a manual that would include all of this.
- Each labored many years as an attorney before moving to the front office.
- Teachers Simon Gibson and Bob Granger have spent every spare moment between classes for the past few weeks labouring to produce a drinking cup holder for Bradley who has severely limited mobility.
- David Evans from Wales, the lanky but smooth attacker who has been quietly laboring to bring his game back to the world class form he briefly displayed four years ago, took a small step on that road last night.
- This modification was typical of the hard-working ground crews who would labor day and night to find solutions for the problems that came up in this new theater of war.
- She seemed not to care that the rest of the class was labouring effortlessly on their reports.
- At 51, she breathes with real difficulty, wheezing and labouring to draw breath as we talk.
- Parts and maintenance manuals were in short supply as the ground crews labored to prepare as many P - 39s for combat as possible.
- Because of the current shifts and perhaps unpredictable forces in today's labour market, these demands may seem unrealistic.
- In this atmosphere, the House of Representatives has labored hard.
Synonyms
work, work hard, toil, slave, slave away, grub away, plod away, grind away, sweat away, struggle, strive, exert oneself, overwork, work one's fingers to the bone, work like a dog, work like a slave, work like a trojan, keep one's nose to the grindstone
1. 1.1 Work at an unskilled manual occupation.
  从事非技术性体力工作
  he was eking out an existence by laboring
  他靠做体力活糊口。
  Example sentencesExamples
  On Saturday, John Paul slept in his old bed, visited his old street and drove by the quarry, no longer used, where he laboured during the Nazi occupation of Poland.
  Forsaking the books, it was pick and shovel for a year of manual labouring for the young David.
  And she actively fought for the most dispossessed of that class, those who labored in the nation's fields.
  They also repaired, refitted, and caulked ships in the harbor, laboring for a $1.00 a day for their master.
2. 1.2archaic with object Till (the ground)
  〈古〉耕（地）
  the land belonged to him who labored it
  耕者有其田。
2Have difficulty in doing something despite working hard.
勉为其难地苦干；干得吃力但仍难应付
Coley labored against confident opponents
科勒莱恩吃力地招架着自信的对手。
Example sentencesExamples
- Life steadily worsened, and though a few maintained quick riches in the short-term, most people labored more and more just to maintain short-term existence.
- He was laden with a heavy old radio and was labouring to keep up.
- There had been a failure specifically to identify favourable material, but that was attributed to the difficulties under which the applicant has been labouring by reason of having been detained.
- Brazil labored to another unconvincing victory at the World Cup on Sunday, qualifying for the second round by beating Australia 2-0 and substituting an ineffective Ronaldo for the second game in a row.
- The home side struggled to overcome Edinburgh, but despite labouring for long periods the grit of the Irish forwards eventually saw them through.
- I loved him so much, and it would kill me to see him grunting and struggling as he laboured to move himself from the bed to the chair.
Synonyms
strive, struggle, endeavour, work, try hard, make every effort, do one's best, do one's utmost, do all one can, give one's all, give it one's all, give something one's all, go all out, fight, push, be at pains, put oneself out, apply oneself, exert oneself
1. 2.1with adverbial of direction Move or proceed with difficulty.
  费力地移动（或前进）
  they labored up a steep, tortuous track
  他们顺着陡峭、曲折的小路费力地前进。
  Example sentencesExamples
  She labored up to the stoop, red face partially hidden by brown paper bags.
  There was a full moon, and stories of recent cougar sightings swirled through Nostdal's head as he labored up and down the hilly road.
  Our taxis, which had labored up the narrow, winding road, descended much more swiftly.
  It laboured up the hills as we climbed to nearly 2000m.
  After we'd eaten we walked back along the canal in the sunshine and laboured up the hill before collapsing in front of the TV.
  In the terrible heat, the fugitives labored up a tomb-lined slope toward Nuceria.
2. 2.2 (of an engine) work noisily and with difficulty.
  （引擎）发着噪声费力地运转
  the wheels churned, the engine laboring
  轮子剧烈摇动，发动机费力并轰隆轰隆地运转着。
  Example sentencesExamples
  She turned on her radar detector and slid up to a hundred and five, riding easily, her huge engine hardly laboring as she raced through the night.
  He felt the engine laboring, gathering speed slowly, the breakdown lane narrowing rapidly ahead.
  The engines labored to push the bulky ship off the side of the building and into the air.
3. 2.3 (of a ship) roll or pitch heavily.
  （船）颠簸摇晃
  the seas ran high, and the ship labored hard
  Example sentencesExamples
  The waves were strong, The Heart of Isis laboured heavily and the men were tested sorely, but by nightfall they had cleared the island without finding safe harbor.
  Synonyms
  lurch, toss, toss about, plunge, roll, reel, sway, rock, flounder, keel, list, wallow, labour
3(of a woman in childbirth) be in labor.
she labored very well and comfortably because she was relaxed

Phrases

a labor of Hercules

see Hercules
Synonyms
task, job, chore, undertaking, mission, commission, assignment

a labor of love

A task done for pleasure, not reward.
只求乐趣不计报酬的工作
Example sentencesExamples
- It was a labour of love, and he liked to keep his mind busy.
- Ian, a former factory worker, said: ‘It took me a while but it's a labour of love really.’
- Yes, some sites are probably close enough to labours of love, created by people who have genuine day jobs who don't appear to be too interested in branching out on their own.
- These and the other films scheduled have all been labours of love.
- They are labours of love with a strong sense of purpose.
- You're right, it was a labor of love.
- But this is not all: there are many direct encouragements for our perseverance in these labours of love.
- Providing care to a partner or family member, while often a labor of love, requires the skill and grace to ensure your own mental and physical well-being.
- Since I usually get paid by the word (except for labours of love, of course, like this review), I'm all in favour of that.
- The garments on display in the North American clothing case (near the totem pole) were labours of love and skill.

labor the point

Explain or discuss something at excessive or unnecessary length.
啰唆地解释（或讨论）
Example sentencesExamples
- The council labours the point that the benchmark return for a company is the ‘risk-free’ return shareholders could earn on their investment.
- Without laboring the point too much, your duties as a responsible tourist continue after you have returned home.
- In my own writings, I have always laboured the point that beer can be used in many different ways: as a marinade, in braising, sauces, batters, doughs, and so forth.
- It was simply that the play rather laboured the point at times and was, in truth, simply too long.
- In these books she laboured the point tenaciously that women were superior in all things.
- I made this choice because the charts labored the point and didn't add anything to the book's content.
- If I am labouring the point it is for a reason.
- At the risk of laboring the point, we believe, high morale is the cornerstone of any successful organization.
- It would be labouring the point, perhaps, to point out that most towns have at least one small gallery.
- This labours the point, and I apologise for doing so, but none offer an alternative to our current position.
Synonyms
overemphasize, belabour, overstress, lay too much emphasis on, place too much emphasis on, overdo, strain, over-elaborate, overplay, attach too much importance to, attach too much weight to, make too much of, exaggerate, dwell on, harp on, harp on about, expound on, expand

Phrasal Verbs

labor under

1Carry (a heavy load or object) with difficulty.
费力地搬（重物）
2Be deceived or misled by (a mistaken belief)
被（错误想法）蒙蔽（或误导）
you've been laboring under a misapprehension
你被一点点误会蒙蔽了。
Example sentencesExamples
- I think they are laboring under the belief that the state has put up everything they've got to show, that Amber's the icing on the cake.
- He hoped they were laboring under that belief because there was something he had to get before he could leave town.
- Chances are you've been laboring under the misguided belief that you're an artist.
- Many individuals labor under the mistaken assumption that they already know a great deal about film, television, and the other mass media simply because they view and use them all the time.
- Today, many of us labor under the mistaken notion that natural wood is by its nature preferable to painted wood, no matter what.
- I was marginally shocked when they sat down beside me; I was still labouring under the belief that guys were way too cool to sit cross - legged, especially on the grass.
- They appear to labour under several misapprehensions.
- We are labouring under the illusion that we are in control and free of constraints when in truth we are out of control and morally bankrupt.
- Here I am labouring under the misconception that progress regarding our treatment and understanding of others, and otherness, had been made.
- I'm always open to listening to new artists, labouring under the belief that all artists were at some point new and that they had to be given their fair shake.
Synonyms
suffer from, be a victim of, be burdened by, be overburdened by, be disadvantaged by, be under

Origin

Middle English: from Old French labour (noun), labourer (verb), both from Latin labor ‘toil, trouble’.

词汇	labour
释义	Definition of labour in English: labour (US labor) noun ˈleɪbəˈleɪbər mass noun 1Work, especially physical work. 劳动（尤指重体力劳动） the price of repairs includes labour, parts, and VAT 修理价格包括人工、零件和增值税。 manual labour 体力劳动。 Example sentencesExamples These subjects were agricultural workers with varying periods of manual labour in the field. According to him, many unwaged Russians survive on handouts from friends and relatives, subsistence agriculture, casual labour, petty trading or petty crime. Since the start of the industrial revolution people have been paid a pittance for manual labor. Next time, though, I'll be employing my teenage cousins to do the manual labour and keeping my hands out of the sink. The majority of migrant workers earn their living in the city by doing manual labour. Most are low-end workers doing street-cleaning or other manual labor. The men go off and look for casual labour during the day while women and children spend the day looking for shade. Synonyms work, toil, employment, exertion, industry, industriousness, toiling, hard work, hard labour, drudgery, effort, the sweat of one's brow, donkey work, menial work informal slog, grind, sweat, elbow grease British informal graft archaic travail, moil task, job, chore, undertaking, mission, commission, assignment 1.1 Workers, especially manual workers, considered collectively. 总称劳动者，劳工 non-union casual labour 非工会会员的临时工人。 Example sentencesExamples If the South was exceptional, it was not in worker resistance to organized labor, but employer resistance. Coming to the London docks he was shocked at the misery and poverty of casual labour and organized a docker's union. Those who were less keen to compete for migrants could resort to convicts as casual labour. In this society, his job was one of the few, in which people exactly performed manual labor. The trade unions have made repeated warnings to Railtrack about the use of casual labour on the lines but to no avail. He said there would be real implications for his company when he employed casual or part-time labour, and brought staff in and out. Some institutions contract the work out to casual labour with little continuity and stability for the student. Wage-labour was essentially casual labour, as employed at harvest time. Their work will be contracted out to private companies that employ largely nonunion low-paid labor. It also aims to replace a number of full-time workers with casual and part-time labour. As a result, the place is being built with non-union labor. I also defend our right to civil protest when city projects employ less qualified nonunion labor. The Tories were keen to get rid of the National Dock Labour Scheme, which protected dockers from casual labour. Using casual labour has become a key means by which many employers seek to evade established standards. Today there is a growing acceptance of illegal casual labour and a strong demand for it. These people, gangmasters, have been around for years, bringing casual labour into the fields and exploiting a lot of farm workers for some time. The company is planning to sell or lease the mine and operate it using casual labour and new technology. Excluding temporary manufacturing labor, 785,000 factory workers have lost their jobs over the past 11 months. The tile company had callously sacked 29 regular workers and replaced them with casual labour supplied by Skilled. Unions say it puts the brakes on a 20-year trend towards casual labour, but employer groups are calling it a disappointing and costly precedent. Synonyms workers, employees, workmen, workforce, staff, working people, blue-collar workers, hands, labourers, labour force, hired hands, proletariat, wage-earners, manpower, human resources, personnel humorous liveware 1.2 Workers considered as a social class or political force. 劳工阶级，工人阶级 as modifier the labour movement 工人运动。 Example sentencesExamples Steelworkers Canadian director Ken Neumann said the merger creates a new force in the Canadian labour movement, as well as in federal and provincial politics. These developments have also resulted in a political and intellectual crisis within the labour movement. Fourth, the working class and labour movement, repressed, shackled, lacking independence, was no alternative. These objective changes in the world economy have undermined the post-war framework of labour protection and social measures. He looks to struggles independent of political parties, the official labour movement, or any other organised forces. The labor movement's political clout is waning with most red states having right to work laws that effectively ban unions. From here we are treated to an account of Watson's rise through the political labour movement. For the past 25 years he has been documenting the immigrant experience in Canada, working class culture and the labour movement. That same impulse brought the entire Canadian labor movement out in force. There is no section of the official labor movement that upholds the most elementary principles of working class solidarity. These forces have also weakened labor movements in many other industrial countries. The result is that since the mid-1980s the organized labour movement was no longer a major social and political factor. Your situation highlights the tragedy of the American labor movement and the dilemma facing the working class today. The working class and the labour movement are not like they were in the 1970s. But turning labour into a political force to be reckoned with in Alberta is a tall order, which McGowan clearly outlined in his paper. Without an understanding of the role of Stalinism and Social Democracy, the labour movement will not be able to turn once again to a socialist perspective. For Trotsky, what determined his attitude to all tendencies within the Russian social democratic labor movement was their perspective, their program. Over time Walesa became active in the underground labour movement and witnessed the repression of workers' protests in the 1970s. The answer came when one delegate rose to address the notion of political action by the labour movement. The death of Glen Branagh is a warning to the labour movement and the working class that bloody sectarian conflict is not a thing of the past in Northern Ireland. 1.3as modifier A government department concerned with a nation's workforce. （政府的）劳工部门 the Labour Secretary 劳工部部长的职位。 Example sentencesExamples This was announced at the end of last week by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. 2treated as singular or plural The Labour Party. 工党 as modifier the Labour leader 工党领袖。 Example sentencesExamples Okay, the Tories are gaining big from Labour and the Lib Dems in the South. It is not the first time Tory James Gray and Labour's Tony Banks have clashed. Pollster Sol Lebovic from Newspoll, says this is a reality check for Labor. Assuming all the above, and that Labor regains Cunningham, the Parliament would look like this. South Swindon has a new Member of Parliament but the seat is still held by Labour. The Government is using Labor's rules, after all, they say. Pallet maker Richard Mulhall took the Illingworth seat from Labour's Zoe Marston. At 4.15 am on Friday, Tony Blair became the first man ever to lead Labour to a third term. Her victory means Labour now has 37 seats on Bradford Council, one more than the Tories. Labor's Trade Spokesman Stephen Conroy has denied that Labor has caved in. Teresa Page was a hard-working councillor and Labour will be sad to see her go. Downing Street has the option of going with Prescott and Labour, or with Cameron and the Tories. They seem to think that the way to beat Labour is to be more Leftist than Labour! In the Senate, Labor's John Faulkner asked for an explanation. At the moment in the 25 seat House of Assembly, Labor have 14, the Liberals seven and the Greens four. Chairman of the Labour Group, Coun Norma Lincoln, said Labour would fight back. But Labor's Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, Chris Evans, questions that. Julie Flynn, the Chief Executive of Free TV Australia says Labor's ban is simplistic and won't work. I was joined a short time ago by Labor's Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Kevin Rudd. Concisely, here is the problem: Labor is the party of the Left. 3The process of childbirth from the start of uterine contractions to delivery. 分娩 a woman in labour 产妇。 Example sentencesExamples The challenge for obstetricians is to make sure that options for safe delivery are not limited for women who experience complications in labour. Catherine suffered in labor for many hours, and finally the doctors had to perform a Caesarean section. Red raspberry leaves are used to enhance uterine contractions once labor is initiated. I was in labour for twenty-two hours with Evan Michael's brother. By the time Michael had called them, Jamie had already been in labor four hours. It says that cerebral palsy is almost never caused by fetal distress in labor. An HIV specialist should be contacted immediately if the diagnosis is made in labour. Low dose mobile epidurals are generally more attractive to women in labour than traditional epidural techniques. They also received 300 mg every three hours while in labor until delivery. The drug prostaglandin is injected into the womb and this causes it to contract strongly as in labour. Measles in pregnancy can cause miscarriage, premature labour or a baby with low birth weight. It has long been the practice to allow family members to be present in labor and delivery. She tells us tales of ambulances collecting women in labour to take them to the hospital delivery suites, only to be held up at a checkpoint where the women give birth. Both women spent four hours in labour and both gave birth to baby daughters. Both Lamaze and Bradley encourage partner participation in labor and delivery. Kory's mom has been in labor for an hour and a half. Such rigorous application of the guidelines would, however, have resulted in antibiotics being given to 16% of all women in labour. The pregnancy went smoothly and Mrs Filer gave birth after being in labour for five hours. They can also improve your posture and strengthen your abdominal muscles for labor and delivery. Fortunately, the body provides several clues that the onset of labor is approaching. Synonyms childbirth, birth, birthing, delivery, nativity contractions, labour pains, labour pangs, labour throes technical parturition archaic confinement, accouchement, lying-in, childbed, travail 4rare A group of moles. a labour of moles toils with the Earth Example sentencesExamples The labour of moles has caused some messy practical problems for the grass cutters. The labor of moles dig dexterously underground. verb ˈleɪbəˈleɪbər [no object] 1Work hard; make great effort. 苦干，努力 they laboured from dawn to dusk 他们分两班从早干到晚。 she was patiently labouring over her sketchbooks Example sentencesExamples And like Mr Sherry, Mr Hillier has laboured for many years and has likewise produced three heavy volumes, the last of which is about to see the light of day in the bookshops. Suppose that one worker labors for five consecutive years to produce one such engine. This modification was typical of the hard-working ground crews who would labor day and night to find solutions for the problems that came up in this new theater of war. Teachers Simon Gibson and Bob Granger have spent every spare moment between classes for the past few weeks labouring to produce a drinking cup holder for Bradley who has severely limited mobility. In this atmosphere, the House of Representatives has labored hard. Each labored many years as an attorney before moving to the front office. Parts and maintenance manuals were in short supply as the ground crews labored to prepare as many P - 39s for combat as possible. But those very wonders are also symbols of oppressive and overbearing states that could coerce hundreds of thousands to spend their lives laboring on projects erected to enhance the ruling class. David Evans from Wales, the lanky but smooth attacker who has been quietly laboring to bring his game back to the world class form he briefly displayed four years ago, took a small step on that road last night. She seemed not to care that the rest of the class was labouring effortlessly on their reports. For years I had labored over a manual that would include all of this. At 51, she breathes with real difficulty, wheezing and labouring to draw breath as we talk. Because of the current shifts and perhaps unpredictable forces in today's labour market, these demands may seem unrealistic. Synonyms work (hard), toil, slave (away), grub away, plod away, grind away, sweat away, struggle, strive, exert oneself, overwork, work one's fingers to the bone, work like a Trojan/dog/slave, keep one's nose to the grindstone informal slog away, kill oneself, plug away, put one's back into something, peg away British informal graft archaic drudge, travail, moil 1.1 Work at an unskilled manual occupation. 从事非技术性体力工作 he was eking out an existence by labouring 他靠做体力活糊口。 Example sentencesExamples Forsaking the books, it was pick and shovel for a year of manual labouring for the young David. And she actively fought for the most dispossessed of that class, those who labored in the nation's fields. On Saturday, John Paul slept in his old bed, visited his old street and drove by the quarry, no longer used, where he laboured during the Nazi occupation of Poland. They also repaired, refitted, and caulked ships in the harbor, laboring for a $1.00 a day for their master. 1.2archaic with object Till (the ground) 〈古〉耕（地） the land belonged to him who laboured it 耕者有其田。 2Have difficulty in doing something despite working hard. 勉为其难地苦干；干得吃力但仍难应付 United laboured against confident opponents 科勒莱恩吃力地招架着自信的对手。 Example sentencesExamples The home side struggled to overcome Edinburgh, but despite labouring for long periods the grit of the Irish forwards eventually saw them through. Life steadily worsened, and though a few maintained quick riches in the short-term, most people labored more and more just to maintain short-term existence. He was laden with a heavy old radio and was labouring to keep up. There had been a failure specifically to identify favourable material, but that was attributed to the difficulties under which the applicant has been labouring by reason of having been detained. Brazil labored to another unconvincing victory at the World Cup on Sunday, qualifying for the second round by beating Australia 2-0 and substituting an ineffective Ronaldo for the second game in a row. I loved him so much, and it would kill me to see him grunting and struggling as he laboured to move himself from the bed to the chair. Synonyms strive, struggle, endeavour, work, try hard, make every effort, do one's best, do one's utmost, do all one can, give (it/something) one's all, go all out, fight, push, be at pains, put oneself out, apply oneself, exert oneself informal bend/fall/lean over backwards, give it one's best shot, pull out all the stops 2.1with adverbial of direction Move or proceed with difficulty. 费力地移动（或前进） they laboured up a steep, tortuous track 他们顺着陡峭、曲折的小路费力地前进。 Example sentencesExamples In the terrible heat, the fugitives labored up a tomb-lined slope toward Nuceria. After we'd eaten we walked back along the canal in the sunshine and laboured up the hill before collapsing in front of the TV. It laboured up the hills as we climbed to nearly 2000m. Our taxis, which had labored up the narrow, winding road, descended much more swiftly. There was a full moon, and stories of recent cougar sightings swirled through Nostdal's head as he labored up and down the hilly road. She labored up to the stoop, red face partially hidden by brown paper bags. 2.2 (of an engine) work noisily and with difficulty. （引擎）发着噪声费力地运转 the wheels churned, the engine labouring 轮子剧烈摇动，发动机费力并轰隆轰隆地运转着。 Example sentencesExamples He felt the engine laboring, gathering speed slowly, the breakdown lane narrowing rapidly ahead. The engines labored to push the bulky ship off the side of the building and into the air. She turned on her radar detector and slid up to a hundred and five, riding easily, her huge engine hardly laboring as she raced through the night. 2.3 (of a ship) roll or pitch heavily. （船）颠簸摇晃 the seas ran high, and the ship laboured hard Example sentencesExamples The waves were strong, The Heart of Isis laboured heavily and the men were tested sorely, but by nightfall they had cleared the island without finding safe harbor. Synonyms lurch, toss, toss about, plunge, roll, reel, sway, rock, flounder, keel, list, wallow 3(of a woman in childbirth) be in labour. she laboured very well and comfortably because she was relaxed Phrases a labour of Hercules see Hercules Synonyms task, job, chore, undertaking, mission, commission, assignment a labour of love A task done for pleasure, not reward. 只求乐趣不计报酬的工作 he spent eight years rebuilding the house—a labour of love Example sentencesExamples Providing care to a partner or family member, while often a labor of love, requires the skill and grace to ensure your own mental and physical well-being. The garments on display in the North American clothing case (near the totem pole) were labours of love and skill. Ian, a former factory worker, said: ‘It took me a while but it's a labour of love really.’ It was a labour of love, and he liked to keep his mind busy. Since I usually get paid by the word (except for labours of love, of course, like this review), I'm all in favour of that. You're right, it was a labor of love. They are labours of love with a strong sense of purpose. Yes, some sites are probably close enough to labours of love, created by people who have genuine day jobs who don't appear to be too interested in branching out on their own. But this is not all: there are many direct encouragements for our perseverance in these labours of love. These and the other films scheduled have all been labours of love. labour the point Explain or discuss something at excessive length. 啰唆地解释（或讨论） Example sentencesExamples If I am labouring the point it is for a reason. Without laboring the point too much, your duties as a responsible tourist continue after you have returned home. It would be labouring the point, perhaps, to point out that most towns have at least one small gallery. I made this choice because the charts labored the point and didn't add anything to the book's content. This labours the point, and I apologise for doing so, but none offer an alternative to our current position. It was simply that the play rather laboured the point at times and was, in truth, simply too long. In these books she laboured the point tenaciously that women were superior in all things. The council labours the point that the benchmark return for a company is the ‘risk-free’ return shareholders could earn on their investment. In my own writings, I have always laboured the point that beer can be used in many different ways: as a marinade, in braising, sauces, batters, doughs, and so forth. At the risk of laboring the point, we believe, high morale is the cornerstone of any successful organization. Synonyms overemphasize, belabour, overstress, lay too much emphasis on, place too much emphasis on, overdo, strain, over-elaborate, overplay, attach too much importance to, attach too much weight to, make too much of, exaggerate, dwell on, harp on, harp on about, expound on, expand Phrasal Verbs labour under 1Carry (a very heavy load) with difficulty. 费力地搬（重物） two servants appeared, labouring under the weight of a kitchen table 2Be misled by (a mistaken belief) 被（错误想法）蒙蔽（或误导） you've been labouring under a misapprehension 你被一点点误会蒙蔽了。 Example sentencesExamples Many individuals labor under the mistaken assumption that they already know a great deal about film, television, and the other mass media simply because they view and use them all the time. Chances are you've been laboring under the misguided belief that you're an artist. We are labouring under the illusion that we are in control and free of constraints when in truth we are out of control and morally bankrupt. Today, many of us labor under the mistaken notion that natural wood is by its nature preferable to painted wood, no matter what. I think they are laboring under the belief that the state has put up everything they've got to show, that Amber's the icing on the cake. He hoped they were laboring under that belief because there was something he had to get before he could leave town. They appear to labour under several misapprehensions. I was marginally shocked when they sat down beside me; I was still labouring under the belief that guys were way too cool to sit cross - legged, especially on the grass. I'm always open to listening to new artists, labouring under the belief that all artists were at some point new and that they had to be given their fair shake. Here I am labouring under the misconception that progress regarding our treatment and understanding of others, and otherness, had been made. Synonyms suffer from, be a victim of, be burdened by, be overburdened by, be disadvantaged by, be under Origin Middle English: from Old French labour (noun), labourer (verb), both from Latin labor 'toil, trouble'. Labour came into English through French from Latin labor ‘toil, distress, trouble’, also found in laboratory (early 17th century) a place of work, and elaborate (late 16th century) ‘produced by much labour’. In the late 18th century the Scottish economist Adam Smith used the word technically for work directed towards providing the needs of a community, and paved the way for the use of labour in political contexts. The British Labour Party was formed in 1906 to represent ordinary working people. A task requiring enormous strength or effort is a labour of Hercules or a Herculean labour. In Greek mythology Hercules had superhuman strength and performed twelve tasks or ‘labours’ imposed on him as a penance for killing his children in a fit of madness. After his death he was ranked among the gods. noun.1 phr. phr.v. Definition of labor in US English: labor (British labour) nounˈlābərˈleɪbər 1Work, especially hard physical work. 劳动（尤指重体力劳动） the price of repairs includes labor and parts 修理价格包括人工、零件和增值税。 manual labor 体力劳动。 Example sentencesExamples According to him, many unwaged Russians survive on handouts from friends and relatives, subsistence agriculture, casual labour, petty trading or petty crime. The men go off and look for casual labour during the day while women and children spend the day looking for shade. These subjects were agricultural workers with varying periods of manual labour in the field. The majority of migrant workers earn their living in the city by doing manual labour. Next time, though, I'll be employing my teenage cousins to do the manual labour and keeping my hands out of the sink. Since the start of the industrial revolution people have been paid a pittance for manual labor. Most are low-end workers doing street-cleaning or other manual labor. Synonyms task, job, chore, undertaking, mission, commission, assignment work, toil, employment, exertion, industry, industriousness, toiling, hard work, hard labour, drudgery, effort, the sweat of one's brow, donkey work, menial work 1.1 Workers, especially manual workers, considered collectively. 总称劳动者，劳工 nonunion casual labor 非工会会员的临时工人。 Example sentencesExamples As a result, the place is being built with non-union labor. Those who were less keen to compete for migrants could resort to convicts as casual labour. He said there would be real implications for his company when he employed casual or part-time labour, and brought staff in and out. The tile company had callously sacked 29 regular workers and replaced them with casual labour supplied by Skilled. These people, gangmasters, have been around for years, bringing casual labour into the fields and exploiting a lot of farm workers for some time. The company is planning to sell or lease the mine and operate it using casual labour and new technology. It also aims to replace a number of full-time workers with casual and part-time labour. The trade unions have made repeated warnings to Railtrack about the use of casual labour on the lines but to no avail. Their work will be contracted out to private companies that employ largely nonunion low-paid labor. Unions say it puts the brakes on a 20-year trend towards casual labour, but employer groups are calling it a disappointing and costly precedent. Today there is a growing acceptance of illegal casual labour and a strong demand for it. Excluding temporary manufacturing labor, 785,000 factory workers have lost their jobs over the past 11 months. Some institutions contract the work out to casual labour with little continuity and stability for the student. Coming to the London docks he was shocked at the misery and poverty of casual labour and organized a docker's union. I also defend our right to civil protest when city projects employ less qualified nonunion labor. If the South was exceptional, it was not in worker resistance to organized labor, but employer resistance. In this society, his job was one of the few, in which people exactly performed manual labor. Using casual labour has become a key means by which many employers seek to evade established standards. The Tories were keen to get rid of the National Dock Labour Scheme, which protected dockers from casual labour. Wage-labour was essentially casual labour, as employed at harvest time. Synonyms workers, employees, workmen, workforce, staff, working people, blue-collar workers, hands, labourers, labour force, hired hands, proletariat, wage-earners, manpower, human resources, personnel 1.2 Manual workers considered as a social class or political force. 劳工阶级，工人阶级 as modifier the labor movement 工人运动。 Example sentencesExamples For the past 25 years he has been documenting the immigrant experience in Canada, working class culture and the labour movement. For Trotsky, what determined his attitude to all tendencies within the Russian social democratic labor movement was their perspective, their program. There is no section of the official labor movement that upholds the most elementary principles of working class solidarity. He looks to struggles independent of political parties, the official labour movement, or any other organised forces. The labor movement's political clout is waning with most red states having right to work laws that effectively ban unions. Fourth, the working class and labour movement, repressed, shackled, lacking independence, was no alternative. The answer came when one delegate rose to address the notion of political action by the labour movement. Steelworkers Canadian director Ken Neumann said the merger creates a new force in the Canadian labour movement, as well as in federal and provincial politics. But turning labour into a political force to be reckoned with in Alberta is a tall order, which McGowan clearly outlined in his paper. The result is that since the mid-1980s the organized labour movement was no longer a major social and political factor. Without an understanding of the role of Stalinism and Social Democracy, the labour movement will not be able to turn once again to a socialist perspective. These objective changes in the world economy have undermined the post-war framework of labour protection and social measures. That same impulse brought the entire Canadian labor movement out in force. These forces have also weakened labor movements in many other industrial countries. The working class and the labour movement are not like they were in the 1970s. The death of Glen Branagh is a warning to the labour movement and the working class that bloody sectarian conflict is not a thing of the past in Northern Ireland. Your situation highlights the tragedy of the American labor movement and the dilemma facing the working class today. Over time Walesa became active in the underground labour movement and witnessed the repression of workers' protests in the 1970s. From here we are treated to an account of Watson's rise through the political labour movement. These developments have also resulted in a political and intellectual crisis within the labour movement. 1.3 A department of government concerned with a nation's workforce. （政府的）劳工部门 Secretary of Labor Example sentencesExamples This was announced at the end of last week by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. 2treated as singular or plural (in the UK or Canada) the Labour Party. 工党 Example sentencesExamples The Government is using Labor's rules, after all, they say. In the Senate, Labor's John Faulkner asked for an explanation. Downing Street has the option of going with Prescott and Labour, or with Cameron and the Tories. They seem to think that the way to beat Labour is to be more Leftist than Labour! Pallet maker Richard Mulhall took the Illingworth seat from Labour's Zoe Marston. Julie Flynn, the Chief Executive of Free TV Australia says Labor's ban is simplistic and won't work. At 4.15 am on Friday, Tony Blair became the first man ever to lead Labour to a third term. Pollster Sol Lebovic from Newspoll, says this is a reality check for Labor. Chairman of the Labour Group, Coun Norma Lincoln, said Labour would fight back. Teresa Page was a hard-working councillor and Labour will be sad to see her go. Her victory means Labour now has 37 seats on Bradford Council, one more than the Tories. South Swindon has a new Member of Parliament but the seat is still held by Labour. At the moment in the 25 seat House of Assembly, Labor have 14, the Liberals seven and the Greens four. It is not the first time Tory James Gray and Labour's Tony Banks have clashed. I was joined a short time ago by Labor's Foreign Affairs Spokesman, Kevin Rudd. Assuming all the above, and that Labor regains Cunningham, the Parliament would look like this. Labor's Trade Spokesman Stephen Conroy has denied that Labor has caved in. Concisely, here is the problem: Labor is the party of the Left. Okay, the Tories are gaining big from Labour and the Lib Dems in the South. But Labor's Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, Chris Evans, questions that. 3The process of childbirth, especially the period from the start of uterine contractions to delivery. 分娩 his wife is in labor Example sentencesExamples Both women spent four hours in labour and both gave birth to baby daughters. She tells us tales of ambulances collecting women in labour to take them to the hospital delivery suites, only to be held up at a checkpoint where the women give birth. An HIV specialist should be contacted immediately if the diagnosis is made in labour. Catherine suffered in labor for many hours, and finally the doctors had to perform a Caesarean section. It has long been the practice to allow family members to be present in labor and delivery. Measles in pregnancy can cause miscarriage, premature labour or a baby with low birth weight. Fortunately, the body provides several clues that the onset of labor is approaching. They can also improve your posture and strengthen your abdominal muscles for labor and delivery. The pregnancy went smoothly and Mrs Filer gave birth after being in labour for five hours. By the time Michael had called them, Jamie had already been in labor four hours. Low dose mobile epidurals are generally more attractive to women in labour than traditional epidural techniques. Such rigorous application of the guidelines would, however, have resulted in antibiotics being given to 16% of all women in labour. The drug prostaglandin is injected into the womb and this causes it to contract strongly as in labour. They also received 300 mg every three hours while in labor until delivery. Red raspberry leaves are used to enhance uterine contractions once labor is initiated. The challenge for obstetricians is to make sure that options for safe delivery are not limited for women who experience complications in labour. I was in labour for twenty-two hours with Evan Michael's brother. It says that cerebral palsy is almost never caused by fetal distress in labor. Both Lamaze and Bradley encourage partner participation in labor and delivery. Kory's mom has been in labor for an hour and a half. Synonyms childbirth, birth, birthing, delivery, nativity verbˈlābərˈleɪbər [no object] 1Work hard; make great effort. 苦干，努力 they labored from dawn to dusk 他们分两班从早干到晚。 she was patiently laboring over her sketchbooks Example sentencesExamples Suppose that one worker labors for five consecutive years to produce one such engine. But those very wonders are also symbols of oppressive and overbearing states that could coerce hundreds of thousands to spend their lives laboring on projects erected to enhance the ruling class. And like Mr Sherry, Mr Hillier has laboured for many years and has likewise produced three heavy volumes, the last of which is about to see the light of day in the bookshops. For years I had labored over a manual that would include all of this. Each labored many years as an attorney before moving to the front office. Teachers Simon Gibson and Bob Granger have spent every spare moment between classes for the past few weeks labouring to produce a drinking cup holder for Bradley who has severely limited mobility. David Evans from Wales, the lanky but smooth attacker who has been quietly laboring to bring his game back to the world class form he briefly displayed four years ago, took a small step on that road last night. This modification was typical of the hard-working ground crews who would labor day and night to find solutions for the problems that came up in this new theater of war. She seemed not to care that the rest of the class was labouring effortlessly on their reports. At 51, she breathes with real difficulty, wheezing and labouring to draw breath as we talk. Parts and maintenance manuals were in short supply as the ground crews labored to prepare as many P - 39s for combat as possible. Because of the current shifts and perhaps unpredictable forces in today's labour market, these demands may seem unrealistic. In this atmosphere, the House of Representatives has labored hard. Synonyms work, work hard, toil, slave, slave away, grub away, plod away, grind away, sweat away, struggle, strive, exert oneself, overwork, work one's fingers to the bone, work like a dog, work like a slave, work like a trojan, keep one's nose to the grindstone 1.1 Work at an unskilled manual occupation. 从事非技术性体力工作 he was eking out an existence by laboring 他靠做体力活糊口。 Example sentencesExamples On Saturday, John Paul slept in his old bed, visited his old street and drove by the quarry, no longer used, where he laboured during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Forsaking the books, it was pick and shovel for a year of manual labouring for the young David. And she actively fought for the most dispossessed of that class, those who labored in the nation's fields. They also repaired, refitted, and caulked ships in the harbor, laboring for a $1.00 a day for their master. 1.2archaic with object Till (the ground) 〈古〉耕（地） the land belonged to him who labored it 耕者有其田。 2Have difficulty in doing something despite working hard. 勉为其难地苦干；干得吃力但仍难应付 Coley labored against confident opponents 科勒莱恩吃力地招架着自信的对手。 Example sentencesExamples Life steadily worsened, and though a few maintained quick riches in the short-term, most people labored more and more just to maintain short-term existence. He was laden with a heavy old radio and was labouring to keep up. There had been a failure specifically to identify favourable material, but that was attributed to the difficulties under which the applicant has been labouring by reason of having been detained. Brazil labored to another unconvincing victory at the World Cup on Sunday, qualifying for the second round by beating Australia 2-0 and substituting an ineffective Ronaldo for the second game in a row. The home side struggled to overcome Edinburgh, but despite labouring for long periods the grit of the Irish forwards eventually saw them through. I loved him so much, and it would kill me to see him grunting and struggling as he laboured to move himself from the bed to the chair. Synonyms strive, struggle, endeavour, work, try hard, make every effort, do one's best, do one's utmost, do all one can, give one's all, give it one's all, give something one's all, go all out, fight, push, be at pains, put oneself out, apply oneself, exert oneself 2.1with adverbial of direction Move or proceed with difficulty. 费力地移动（或前进） they labored up a steep, tortuous track 他们顺着陡峭、曲折的小路费力地前进。 Example sentencesExamples She labored up to the stoop, red face partially hidden by brown paper bags. There was a full moon, and stories of recent cougar sightings swirled through Nostdal's head as he labored up and down the hilly road. Our taxis, which had labored up the narrow, winding road, descended much more swiftly. It laboured up the hills as we climbed to nearly 2000m. After we'd eaten we walked back along the canal in the sunshine and laboured up the hill before collapsing in front of the TV. In the terrible heat, the fugitives labored up a tomb-lined slope toward Nuceria. 2.2 (of an engine) work noisily and with difficulty. （引擎）发着噪声费力地运转 the wheels churned, the engine laboring 轮子剧烈摇动，发动机费力并轰隆轰隆地运转着。 Example sentencesExamples She turned on her radar detector and slid up to a hundred and five, riding easily, her huge engine hardly laboring as she raced through the night. He felt the engine laboring, gathering speed slowly, the breakdown lane narrowing rapidly ahead. The engines labored to push the bulky ship off the side of the building and into the air. 2.3 (of a ship) roll or pitch heavily. （船）颠簸摇晃 the seas ran high, and the ship labored hard Example sentencesExamples The waves were strong, The Heart of Isis laboured heavily and the men were tested sorely, but by nightfall they had cleared the island without finding safe harbor. Synonyms lurch, toss, toss about, plunge, roll, reel, sway, rock, flounder, keel, list, wallow, labour 3(of a woman in childbirth) be in labor. she labored very well and comfortably because she was relaxed Phrases a labor of Hercules see Hercules Synonyms task, job, chore, undertaking, mission, commission, assignment a labor of love A task done for pleasure, not reward. 只求乐趣不计报酬的工作 Example sentencesExamples It was a labour of love, and he liked to keep his mind busy. Ian, a former factory worker, said: ‘It took me a while but it's a labour of love really.’ Yes, some sites are probably close enough to labours of love, created by people who have genuine day jobs who don't appear to be too interested in branching out on their own. These and the other films scheduled have all been labours of love. They are labours of love with a strong sense of purpose. You're right, it was a labor of love. But this is not all: there are many direct encouragements for our perseverance in these labours of love. Providing care to a partner or family member, while often a labor of love, requires the skill and grace to ensure your own mental and physical well-being. Since I usually get paid by the word (except for labours of love, of course, like this review), I'm all in favour of that. The garments on display in the North American clothing case (near the totem pole) were labours of love and skill. labor the point Explain or discuss something at excessive or unnecessary length. 啰唆地解释（或讨论） Example sentencesExamples The council labours the point that the benchmark return for a company is the ‘risk-free’ return shareholders could earn on their investment. Without laboring the point too much, your duties as a responsible tourist continue after you have returned home. In my own writings, I have always laboured the point that beer can be used in many different ways: as a marinade, in braising, sauces, batters, doughs, and so forth. It was simply that the play rather laboured the point at times and was, in truth, simply too long. In these books she laboured the point tenaciously that women were superior in all things. I made this choice because the charts labored the point and didn't add anything to the book's content. If I am labouring the point it is for a reason. At the risk of laboring the point, we believe, high morale is the cornerstone of any successful organization. It would be labouring the point, perhaps, to point out that most towns have at least one small gallery. This labours the point, and I apologise for doing so, but none offer an alternative to our current position. Synonyms overemphasize, belabour, overstress, lay too much emphasis on, place too much emphasis on, overdo, strain, over-elaborate, overplay, attach too much importance to, attach too much weight to, make too much of, exaggerate, dwell on, harp on, harp on about, expound on, expand Phrasal Verbs labor under 1Carry (a heavy load or object) with difficulty. 费力地搬（重物） 2Be deceived or misled by (a mistaken belief) 被（错误想法）蒙蔽（或误导） you've been laboring under a misapprehension 你被一点点误会蒙蔽了。 Example sentencesExamples I think they are laboring under the belief that the state has put up everything they've got to show, that Amber's the icing on the cake. He hoped they were laboring under that belief because there was something he had to get before he could leave town. Chances are you've been laboring under the misguided belief that you're an artist. Many individuals labor under the mistaken assumption that they already know a great deal about film, television, and the other mass media simply because they view and use them all the time. Today, many of us labor under the mistaken notion that natural wood is by its nature preferable to painted wood, no matter what. I was marginally shocked when they sat down beside me; I was still labouring under the belief that guys were way too cool to sit cross - legged, especially on the grass. They appear to labour under several misapprehensions. We are labouring under the illusion that we are in control and free of constraints when in truth we are out of control and morally bankrupt. Here I am labouring under the misconception that progress regarding our treatment and understanding of others, and otherness, had been made. I'm always open to listening to new artists, labouring under the belief that all artists were at some point new and that they had to be given their fair shake. Synonyms suffer from, be a victim of, be burdened by, be overburdened by, be disadvantaged by, be under Origin Middle English: from Old French labour (noun), labourer (verb), both from Latin labor ‘toil, trouble’. noun.1 phr. phr.v.
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