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

1. Strive and make an effort to reach a goal
   "She labored for years to make a decent living";
   - tug, labour [Brit, Cdn], push, drive, plow [US], sweat, plough on [Brit], plough [Brit], plow on [US]
    
2. Work hard
   "Lexicographers labor all day long";
   - labour [Brit, Cdn], toil, fag [informal], travail [literary], grind [informal], drudge, dig [US, informal], moil [N. Amer]
    
3. Undergo the efforts of childbirth
   "She labored for hours before the baby was born";
   - labour [Brit, Cdn]

1. A progressive center-left or socialist political party founded in Great Britain in 1900, one of the two largest parties in Parliament since the 1920s
   - British Labour Party, Labour Party [UK], Labour [UK]
    
2. The federal department responsible for promoting the working conditions of wage earners in the United States; created in 1913
   - Department of Labor, Labor Department, DoL

Derived forms: labored, labors, laboring, Labors

Type of: birth, birthing, class, executive department, 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, gravidation [archaic], gravidity [technical], maternity, pregnancy

Encyclopedia: Labor, Welfare and Health Committee