▪ I. labouring, laboring, vbl. n.
(ˈleɪbərɪŋ)
[f. labour v. + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. labour; performance of labour or work; cultivation (of land); † travail of child-bearing; laboured or heavy motion, etc.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 6593 That he ne shal..With propre hondis and body also, Gete his fode in laboryng. 1486 Nav. Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 23 Marriners reteyned for the..laboryng in castyng out of the ballast. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxci. 228 There was no labourynge of the yerth. 1524 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 329 The..acte..made against the laboring of writts. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. i. 57 Thou variest no more from picking of Purses, then giuing direction, doth from labouring. 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 35 b/2 Some woemen ar as yet not vsed unto the labouringe of childe. 1611 Bible 2 Macc. ii. 31 To vse breuitie, and auoyde much labouring of the worke. 1619 Visct. Doncaster Let. in Eng. & Germ. (Camden) 134 There had beene some..underhand labouring..to promote the Duke of Bavaria. 1644–5 Chas. I Let. Wks. (1662) 332 There were great labourings to that purpose. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. v. 56 To render the ships stiffer, and..prevent their labouring in hard gales of wind. 1881 Daily Tel. 28 Jan., The heavy labouring of the brig. 1887 Hall Caine Deemster xxiv. 158 He..pressed one hand hard at his breast to quiet the labouring of his heart. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 11 Apr. 2/1 Doing a bit of dock⁓side labouring. |
| attrib. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. i. 4 Vpon a labouring day. 1754 Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 356 By labouring time is understood, that time, in which that tenant..is ploughing. 1856 Olmsted Slave States 55 A slave woman is commonly esteemed least for her laboring qualities. |
b. concr. A farm. Sc.
| 1782 Sir J. Sinclair Observ. Scot. Dial. 181 A labouring, a farm. a 1814 J. Ramsay Scotl. & Scotsm. in 18th c. (1888) II. ix. 180 My noble hostess took me then (1792) to see her labouring or farm. |
▪ II. labouring, laboring, ppl. a.
(ˈleɪbərɪŋ)
[f. labour v. + -ing2.]
1. That labours or toils; esp. (of persons) performing or engaged in unskilled labour, as in labouring man, labouring population.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. xxiv. (1495) 361 In the euentyde labourynge men ben rewarded and payed and goo to reste. 1504 W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione i. ii. 154 A pore homely laborynge man. 1535 Coverdale Eccles. v. 12 A labouringe man slepeth swetely, whether it be litle or moch that he eateth. 1601 Shakes. All's Well xi. i. 121 Labouring Art can neuer ransome nature From her inaydible estate. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 8 Labouring Countrie people for the most part brew their own Beer. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 330 Of labouring Pioners A multitude with Spades and Axes arm'd. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 808 The waxen Work of lab'ring Bees. 1725 Pope Odyss. xii. 526, I..oar'd with lab'ring arms along the flood. 1797 Burke Reg. Peace iii. (C.P.S.) 219 We have heard many plans for the relief of the ‘Labouring Poor’. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xx. IV. 421 Other writers did their best to raise riots among the labouring people. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life Southern C. 194 The labouring lads often amuse themselves searching for these creatures [bats]. |
b. Of cattle: Engaged in or used for labour.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. xxv. 49 Laborynge horses and mares. 1715 Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 57 Stables for labouring Cattle, such as Oxen and Horses. 1807 Robinson Archæol. Græca iii. xix. 312 The custom of killing laboring oxen. |
† 2. Of a woman: Suffering the pangs of childbirth, travailing. Also transf. Obs.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde (?1564) 61 The midwife shall sit before the labouryng woman. a 1700 Dryden (Worc.), The laboring mountain must bring forth a mouse. a 1704 T. Brown Sat. Quack Wks. 1730 I. 64 Cure hogs of measles, visit labouring swine. |
3. Striving or struggling against pressure or some obstacle; that is in trouble or distress; (of the heart, etc.) struggling under emotion or suppressed feeling; also in physical sense, heaving, palpitating; (of a ship) rolling or pitching heavily. (Often with more or less direct reference to 2.)
| c 1425 Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S.) 51 [They] besowght the Apostle that with his woonnte pyte to [? read he] wolde succur this laborynge virgyne. 1586 Marlowe Jew of Malta i. ii, I'de passe away my life in penitence,..To make attonement for my labouring soule. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. ii. 163 [The blood] Being all descended to the labouring heart. 1604 ― Oth. ii. i. 189 Let the labouring Barke climbe hills of Seas Olympus high. 1693 in Dryden's Juvenal (1697) 88 When Falern Wines the lab'ring Lungs did fire. 1706 Rowe Ulyss. ii. i, Her labouring Heart is rent with Anguish. 1738 Glover Leonidas i. 268 Her lab'ring bosom blotted with her tears. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles v. xxx, The vest Drawn tightly o'er his labouring breast. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. (1865) III. xxx. 389 The labouring vessel of the state was guided into port by his policy. 1878 White Life in Christ iii. xvii. 202 The thought of it weighs more and more heavily on the labouring mind. |
† b. Of the moon: Eclipsed. (A Latinism.)
| 1638 Wilkins New World i. (1684) 9 She was able to make noise enough to deliver the labouring Moon. 1665 Glanvill Scepsis Sci. xix. 122 Nor do the eager clamors of contending Disputants yield any more relief to eclipsed Truth; then did the sounding Brass of old to the labouring Moon. [1667 Milton P.L. ii. 665 While the labouring Moon Eclipses at thir charms.] |
4. labouring oar: the oar which requires the most labour to work it; hence fig. esp. in phr. to pull, tug, ply the labouring oar: to take a great or arduous share of the work.
| 1697 Dryden æneid v. 157 Three Trojans tug at ev'ry lab'ring Oar. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 141 ¶1, I shall still let the labouring Oar be managed by my Correspondents. 1779 Hume Dial. conc. Nat. Rel. xi. (ad fin.) II. 443 Tug the labouring oar. 1894 W. B. Carpenter Son of Man among Sons of Men iv. 106 They vainly ply the labouring oar. 1900 G. C. Brodrick Mem. & Impressions 386 Having found it difficult to pull a labouring oar on the City Council, without neglecting other duties. |
Hence ˈlabouringly adv., laboriously.
| 1862 Lytton Strange Story II. 276 Reason is coming back to her—slowly, labouringly. |
Add: [1.] [a.] Also labouring class(es).
| 1807 Deb. Congress U.S. (1852) 13 Jan. 303 The laboring classes of the community receive but a very small portion of relief from a total abolition of the salt tax. 1979 P. Mortimer About Time iv. 44 It was therefore unthinkable (to her) to send him to the village school, to learn his three Rs with the labouring classes. |
[2.] Delete † Obs. and add: In mod. use, undergoing the process of giving birth.
| 1972 S. Kitzinger Experience of Childbirth (ed. 3) v. 111 The labouring woman need not worry about getting enough oxygen. |