Forms: 4 laborie, -y, labre, 45 labore, -er, 46 laboure, 5 -owre, Sc. lauber, 56 labur, Sc. laubour, 6 -or, -ur, -yr, 4 labor, 5 labour. [a. F. labourer (early laborer, 10th c.), ad. L. labōrāre, f. labōr-, labor (see prec.). Cf. It. lavorare, Sp. labrar, Pg. lavrar.
In mod. Fr., Sp. and Pg. the word is chiefly restricted to the specific sense to plow, the wider sense having passed to the vb. represented in Eng. by TRAVAIL.]
I. Transitive senses.
1. To spend labor upon (the ground, † vegetable growths, etc.); to till, cultivate. Now poet. or arch. Also, in recent use, to work (a mine).
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 503. To labor vyne watz dere þe date.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VIII. 1607. The abill ground gert laubour thryftely.
1481. Caxton, Godfrey, viii. (1893), 29. They laboured no londe by eryng.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. clxxxviii. 223. The landes were voyde and nat laboured.
1549. Compl. Scot., xv. 123. The grond that i laubyr.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslies Hist. Scot., III. 197. He gaue her landes and steddings, with seruandes to labour thame.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 82 a. To labor the Lords vineyard.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 18. Labouring the soile, and reaping plenteous crop.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), s.v., To Labour the Ground, is to manure the Ground by removing the Earth.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 115, ¶ 5. The Earth must be laboured before it gives its Increase.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 411. The English labourer hazards much when he labours land for himself.
1824. Scott, St. Ronans, xxviii. The garden was weeded, and the glebe was regularly laboured.
1833. [see LABOURED ppl. a.].
1876. Morris, Sigurd, II. 140. Fair then was the son of Sigmund as he toiled and laboured the ground.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 3 Sept., 2/1. A claim must be properly laboured by the owner or by someone paid by him.
2. gen. To spend labor upon; to work upon; to produce or execute with labor. (Also with cogn. obj.) Obs. or arch.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. lx. (1869), 99. Litel rouht hire of spinnynge, or to laboure ooþer labour.
143250. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 67. In eny other welle whiche hathe be laborede by diuerse kynges of Egipte.
c. 1440. Jacobs Well, 4. Now haue I ymagyd and cast all myn hool werk of þis welle; which I schal laboure to ȝou lxxxix. dayes and v., ere it be performyd.
1523. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 328. All manere goods and marchandis as shalbe labored, tracted, and adventured by ony of the inhabitants of this citie.
15[?]. Withals, Dict. (1568), 11/1. Claye labored to make pottes.
1599. Broughtons Lett., vii. 24. With this Rabbinicall rubbish haue you laboured a lomie and sandie building.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., 1. Whether it be by deuising any thing our selues, or reuising that which hath bene laboured by others.
1623. Whitbourne, Newfoundland, 82. The other are to labour the fish at land, (of which sixteene) seuen are to be skilfull headders, and splitters of fish.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 82. They labour Honey to sustain their Lives. Ibid., Æneid, VI. 859. Anvils, labourd by the Cyclops Hands.
1725. Pope, Odyss., VIII. 317. A wondrous net he labours.
1830. Tennyson, Poems, 111. Love laboured honey busily. I was the hive and Love the bee.
1832. Standish, Maid of Jaen, 8. The diamond labourd from the mine.
b. To labour ones needs: to work for ones livelihood. Obs.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 6688. A man That wol but only bidde his bedis, And never with honde laboure his nedis.
† 3. To use labor upon in rubbing, pounding, or the like; hence, to rub, pound, beat, etc. (Cf. work vb.) Obs.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, a v b. Take ye white of an egge, & labur thessame in a sponge.
1544. Phaër, Regim. (1560), S iij b. Laboure the sope and the rose water wel together. Ibid., S vi b. Red coral hanged about the neck, wherupon the childe should oftentymes labour his gummes.
1569. R. Androse, trans. Alexis Secr., IV. III. 25. Boyle them, laboring them with the spatter.
1607. Markham, Caval., II. (1617), 79. As he trotteth, labour his contrarie side with the calfe of your leg.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies (1840), III. 486. Take to every six gallons of water one gallon of the finest honey, and put into the boorn, and labour it together half an hour.
4. To belabor, ply with blows. Obs. exc. dial.
1594. Carew, Huartes Exam. Wits, xiii. (1596), 211. The Asse if he be laboured with a cudgell, he setteth not by it.
1645. Slingsby, Diary (1836), 177. Our horse did so fast labour ym wth their longe tucks yt they could not endure it.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 639. Take a Plant of stubborn Oak; And labour him with many a sturdy Stroak.
mod. Sc. He took a stick an laubord [or labberd] the beast terrible wid.
5. To work at or treat laboriously; to take great pains with (a matter); to work out in detail, to elaborate. Now almost exclusively in to labour a point, a question, and similar expressions.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. xvi. 91. So preciose and vnlackeable occupacion to be had and laborid among hem.
1548. Udall, Erasmus Par., Pref. 13 b. Verai fewe studentes dooe vse to reade and laboure any one autour in any one particuler facultee or disciplyne.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. xxiii. § 5. 220. Science of government, which we see is laboured and in some part reduced.
a. 1619. Fotherby, Atheomastix, II. xi. § 4 (1622), 317. Which point, hee hath laboured exactly, with much finenesse and subtility.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., p. lii. The Invention of the New-River-Water was much labourd.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 92, ¶ 12. These lines, laboured with great attention.
c. 1750. Shenstone, Solicitude, 29. How the nightingales labour the strain.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 787. Th accomplished plan That he has touchd, retouchd, many a long day Labord, and many a night pursued in dreams.
1797. Burke, Regic. Peace, iv. Wks. 1842, II. 357. Though he Labours this point, yet he confesses a fact which renders all his labours utterly fruitless.
1846. Ellis, Elgin Marbles, II. 225. In a single figure, parts are often highly laboured.
1863. C. Clarke, Shakesp. Char., x. 254. The reason why the poet has so laboured the character of his hero.
1892. A. J. Balfour, Sp., in Standard, 11 April, 3/5. I do not desire on the present occasion to labour this proposition.
† b. = ELABOBATE v. 2. Obs.
1615. Cooke, Body of Man, 373. In the cauity of this ventricle the vitall spirits are laboured.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., II. vi. 96. The Heart is the fountain of Life and labors the vital Spirits.
6. To endeavor to bring about (a state of things); to work for or with a view to (a result); to work hard for (a cause or the like). (Cf. 12.) Obs. or arch.
In early legal use often associated with sue.
1439. E. E. Wills (1882), 118. The mater so to be laboryd and sewyd that he be constrayned ther to do hit.
1463. in Bury Wills (Camden), 40. If ony wil laboure the contrarye.
1484. Certificate, in Surtees Misc. (1890), 42. Þe foresaid forged and untrue testimonyall, shewed [? read sewed] & labord by þe said Richard Davis.
1523. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 328. If ony such parson shall sue or laboure ony such writte.
1611. B. Jonson, Catiline, III. i. Two things I must labour, That neither they upbraid, nor you repent you.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, Descr. India (1864), 28. The Mother of Echebar laboured a peace, but not preuailing, fell sicke.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, IV. xviii. (1647), 199. [She] laboured his cause day and night. Ibid. (a. 1661), Worthies (1840), III. 2. When Shat-over woods were likely to be cut down, the university by letters labored their preservation.
1678. Dryden, Kind Keeper, II. i. Dram. Wks. 1725, IV. 303. Is this a Song to be sung at such a time when I am labouring your Reconcilement?
1742. Young, Nt. Th., 52. And labour that first palm of noble minds, A manly scorn of terror from the tomb.
1793. Burke, Observ. Cond. Minority, Wks. 1842, I. 612. How much I wished for, and how earnestly I laboured, that re-union.
1817. Jas. Mill, Brit. India, I. III. iv. 621. In labouring the ruin of Nujeeb ad Dowlah.
† 7. To endeavor to influence or persuade; to urge or entreat. (Cf. 13.) Obs.
1461. Paston Lett., No. 404, II. 31. Tudynham, Stapylton, and Heydon, with theyr affenyte labur the Kyng and Lords unto my hurt.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., lv. title, The butterflie fleeth into the tree: laboring the flies to haue the ant heerd speake ere he die.
157787. Holinshed, Chron., III. 1225/2. He was laboured and solicited dailie by wise and learned fathers, to recant his diuelish & erronious opinions.
1598. Spenser, in Wks. (ed. Grosart), I. 539. The landlords began to labour the Erle of Tireone vnto theire parte.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 604. Hee began cunningly to labour divers of the noblemen one by one.
1622. Bacon, Hen. VII., 119. Yet would not the French King deliver him up to King Henry (as hee was laboured to doe).
1633. Campion, Hist. Irel., II. iii. 75. [He] laboured the King earnestly for their pardons and obtained it.
† b. To advocate strenuously, urge (a matter).
1477. Paston Lett., No. 785, III. 172. That ye schuld labur the mater to my maister.
1676. F. Cottington, in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 183. Much it is laboured there that he should come as ordinary, and not for a small time.
† 8. (with compl.) To bring into a specified condition or position by strenuous exertion. Obs.
c. 1485. Digby Myst., III. 1823. Þer is a woman þat hether hath laberyd me owt of mercyll.
1550. Crowley, Way to Wealth, 171. Loke if thou haue not laboured him oute of his house or ground.
1602. Marston, Antonios Rev., V. iii. Wks. 1856, I. 134. I have beene labouring generall favour firme.
1611. Second Maidens Trag., V. ii. in Hazl., Dodsley, X. 465. Our arms and lips Shall labour life into her. Wake, Sweet mistress!
1615. T. Adams, Spirit. Navigator, 34. Whiles he labours them to Hell, winde and Tide are on his side.
a. 1617. P. Bayne, Ephes. (1658), 17. Men must labour their hearts to a sense of the worth of the benefits.
1633. Earl Manch., Al Mondo (1636), 16. To labour the eye to see darknesse.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Healths Improv. (1746), 151. Drink a good Draught of your strongest Beer and then labour it out, as Plowmen do.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 65. Sisyphus that labours up the Hill The rowling Rock in vain.
† 9. To impose labor upon; to work (an animal); to use (the body or its parts, occas. the mind) in some work. Obs.
147085. Malory, Arthur, XVIII. xvii. The hors was passynge lusty and fresshe by cause he was not laboured a moneth afore.
c. 1500. Yng. Childrens Bk., in Babees Bk. (1868), 19. A byrde hath wenges forto fle, So man hath Armes laboryd to be.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 303 b. Thou were so ferre ouer laboured & faynt for payne.
1535. Coverdale, Deut. xxi. 3. A yonge cowe which hath not bene laboured, ner hath drawen in the yocke.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph., I. (Arb.), 46. A pastyme where euery parte of the bodye must be laboured.
1638. Tarltons Test., C j b. My fore-horse being let bloud and drencht yesterday, I durst not labour him.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1298. This Idols day Labouring thy mind More then the working day thy hands.
† b. To cause to undergo fatigue. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Shipmans T., 1298. I trowe that our gode man Hath yow laboured sith the night bigan.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 13490. A tempest hym toke Þat myche laburt the lede er he lond caght.
1496. Bk. St. Albans, Fishing (1810), h v. Yf it fortune you to smyte a grete fysshe wyth a smalle harnays: thenne ye must lede hym in the water and labour him there tyll he be drownyd and ouercome.
1632. J. Featly, Hon. Chast., 25. I will not labour your eares with the many and vulgar arguments to prove a God.
† 10. To burden, overwhelm, oppress, distress.
14501530. Myrr. Our Ladye, 240. The drede of god, by whiche she was ful sore laboured & troubeled.
1482. Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 19. Sore labouryd with gret febulnes and wekenes.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xviii. (1632), 908. Nature being sore laboured, sore wearied and weakned.
II. Intransitive senses.
11. To use labor, to exert ones powers of body or mind; in early use chiefly said of physical work, esp. performed with the object of gaining a livelihood; to exert oneself, toil; to work, esp. to work hard or against difficulties.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 26. I wol helpe þee to labore whil my lyf lastiþ. Ibid., 117. We haue no lymes to labore [C. IX. 135 laborie] with. Ibid., 259. Þat Fisyk schal beo fayn his fisyk to lete, And leorne to labre wiþe lond leste lyflode faile. Ibid., B. XV. 182. Þanne wil he some tyme Labory in a lauendrye.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 387. He preyde hem to labouren in this nede, And shapen that he faille nat to spede.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 267. Not to laboure on þe lawe as lewde men on plowes.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), vi. 64. Thei tylen not the Lond, ne thei laboure noughte.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 5862. He Hade laburt so longe, hym list for to rest.
c. 1460. Fortescue, Abs. & Lim. Mon., xiv. (1885), 142. This serche hath be a digression ffrom the mater in wich we labour.
1542. Brinklow, Compl., xvi. (1874), 40. He that laboryth not, let him not eate.
1611. Bible, Isa. xlix. 4. I haue laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxx. 181. It is not enough, for a man to labour for the maintenance of his life.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 111. Who Run or else Dance so many hours to a Tune when they labour as much as a Lancashire man does at Roger of Coverly.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch (1879), I. 239. Those who laboured at the oars.
1895. Bookman, Oct., 16/2. [He] labours hard over his proofs of the book.
indirect pass. 1715. De Foe, Fam. Instruct., I. i. (1841), I. 22. You must be instructed and laboured with to be a good child.
† b. refl. in same sense. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 981 (1009). I mene as though I laboured me in this, To enqueren which thing cause of which thing be.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., C viij b/1. Grete in contemplacion of heuenly thynges and a tylyar in labouryng hymself.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 171 b. The more yu enforcest & labourest thy selfe in ye begynnynge.
12. To exert oneself, strive (for some end); to endeavor strenuously (to accomplish or bring about something).
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. lxxxvii. (1495), 836. They labouren to helpe eche other wyth all theyr myghte.
c. 1430. Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 847. Laboryng the Seruyce of God to Multyply.
150020. Dunbar, Poems, lxxi. 10. Is nane of ws Bot laubouris ay for vthiris distructioun.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 2 b. They laboured to knowe the natures of thynges in this worlde.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. cxx. 7. I laboured for peace. Ibid., 2 Macc. iv. 7. Iason the brother of Onias laboured to be hye prest.
1604. E. G[rimstone], DAcostas Hist. Indies, III. iv. 131. They which saile from West to East, labour alwaies to be out of the burning Zone.
1611. Bible, Isa. xxii. 4. I will weepe bitterly, labour not to comfort me.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. ii. 191. For your highness good I ever labourd More than mine own.
1682. Dryden, Mac Flecknoe, 157. When false flowers of rhetoric thou wouldst cull, Trust nature, do not labour to be dull.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 95, ¶ 4. True Affliction labours to be invisible.
1766. Goldsm., Vic. W., xxv. I laboured to become cheerful.
1796. Jane Austen, Pride & Prej., vii. Most earnestly did she labour to prove the probability of error.
a. 1862. Buckle, Civiliz. (1873), III. v. 387. Water is constantly labouring to reduce all the inequalities of the earth to a single level.
1874. Green, Short Hist., vii. § 3 (1882), 371. Parker was labouring for a uniformity of faith and worship amongst the clergy.
† 13. To exert ones influence in urging a suit or to obtain something desired. Const. to (a person).
1475[?]. Plumpton, Corr., 31. I have receaved from you diverse letters that I shold labour to Sir John Pilkinton, to labor to my lord of Glocester or to the king. Ibid., 51. This day com Wylliam Plompton to labor for Haveray Parke.
1533. More, Apol., viii. Wks. 860/2. If I desired a manne to geue me a thynge, and laboured muche to hym therefore.
c. 1555. Harpsfield, Divorce Hen. VIII. (Camden), 236. He laboured to the Pope to have a dispensation.
157787. Holinshed, Chron., I. 188/1. His coosen who was about to labour to the king for his pardon.
14. To move or travel, esp. with implication of painful exertion or impeded progress. lit. and fig. Now rare.
a. 140050. Alexander, 4814. Þai labourde vp a-gayn þe lift an elleuen dais.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, xlii. 82. Nasciens that In the se was Abrod, Vpp and down labowred.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xxiv. 34. The kynge retourned agayne into Englande, and laboured so longe that he came to Wyndesor.
1530. Palsgr., 600/2. This horse is nat very fayre, but he laboureth well on the waye, il chemine bien.
1611. Bible, Josh. vii. 3. Let about two or three thousand men goe vp, and make not all the people to labour thither.
171520. Pope, Iliad, XII. 458. He poised, and swung it round; then, tossd on high, It flew with force and labourd up the sky.
1877. L. Morris, Epic of Hades, I. 3. The stream Which laboured in the distance to the sea.
b. quasi-trans. To labour ones way: to pursue it laboriously.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. xxiii. 231. Laboring our way with great difficulty upon the ice-belt.
† c. To make little progress, suffer impediments.
1736. Chandler, Hist. Persec., 360. The job was labouring for three years space.
1765. T. Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., I. iii. 360. A petition of Capt. Hutchinson and others labored, although their title was originally derived from the Indian sachems and proprietors, and the lands had been long possessed.
15. To be burdened, troubled, or distressed, as by disease, want, etc.; to be trammelled by or suffer from some disadvantage or defect. Const. under (also † of, with, on, in).
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VII. 345. Lawberand [v.r. laubourit] in mynd thai had beyne all that day.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, I. 16. No maruaile if the eye in dolour labouryng, this Muscle sometyme be affected also.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 106. Whereby vnprofitable marishes were drained and such places relieued as laboured with the penury of waters.
1641. Milton, Reform., II. (1851), 69. This our shaken Monarchy, that now lies labouring under her throwes.
1644. Bulwer, Chiron., 15. Speech labours of a blinde crampe, when it is too concise, confused or obscure.
1662. H. More, Philos. Writings, Pref. general xi. Men of very excellent spirits may labour with prejudice against so worthy an Authour.
a. 1677. Barrow, Euclid (1714), Pref. 3. Seems to labour under a double Defect.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 746. The wheasing Swine With Coughs is choakd, and labours from the Chine.
1709. Berkeley, Ess. Vision, § 83. The visive faculty may be found to labour of two defects.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 267, ¶ 3. Aristotle himself allows, that Homer has nothing to boast of as to the Unity of his Fable . Some have been of Opinion, that the Æneid also labours in this particular.
1769. Warburton, Lett. (1809), 434. I was then labouring on my old rheumatic disorder. I have not yet got rid of it.
1784. trans. Beckfords Vathek (1868), 113. From time to time he laboured with profound sighs.
1839. in Spirit Metrop. Conserv. Press (1840), I. 273. Some timid conservatives labour in the same mistake.
1857. Kingsley, Two Y. Ago (1877), 416. You are labouring under an entire misapprehension.
1862. Sir B. Brodie, Psychol. Inq., II. iv. 110. If he laboured under a perpetual toothache.
† 16. Of women: To suffer the pains of childbirth; to travail. Also fig. Obs.
1454. Paston Lett., I. 274. Aftir she was arestid she laboured of hir child, that she is with all.
1527. Andrew, Brunswykes Distyll. Waters, K iv. Yf a woman dronke it, the chylde sholde dye, and she sholde laboure before her ryght tyme.
15489. (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Litany, All women labouryng of chylde.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 521. When great things labouring perish in their birth. Ibid. (1604), Oth., II. i. 128. But my Muse labours, and thus she is deliuerd.
1653. Parish Reg. Finghall, Yks. (MS.), Baptised Elizabeth the daughter of John Parke of Wensley, whose wife laboured at Burton in her journey homeward.
1711. Pope, Temp. Fame, 212. Here, like some furious prophet, Pindar rode, And seemd to labour with th inspiring God.
17. Of a ship: To roll or pitch heavily at sea.
1627. Capt. Smith, Seamans Gram., ix. 40. We say a ship doth Labour much when she doth rowle much any way.
1748. Ansons Voy., I. vi. 104. The ship laboured very much in a hollow sea.
1819. Byron, Juan, II. xli. The ship labourd so, they scarce could hope To weather out much longer.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxv. 82. The ship was labouring hard under her top-gallant sails.