laboring

3 definitions found

laboring - 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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  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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laboring - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  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]