{
    "term": "labour",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "academic": true,
    "ox3000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "work, especially physical work",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "**manual labour** *(= work using your hands)*"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The price will include the labour and materials."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The company wants to keep down **labour costs**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The workers voted to **withdraw their labour** *(= to stop work as a means of protest)*."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The miners are threatening to withdraw their labour."
                },
                {
                    "text": "These women were generally accustomed to hard manual labour."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Business"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["manual", "physical", "back-breaking"],
                "verb + labour/​labor": ["withdraw"],
                "labour/​labor + noun": ["productivity", "camp"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "a task or period of work",
            "labels": "(formal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "He was so exhausted from the day's labours that he went straight to bed."
                },
                {
                    "text": "People look forward to enjoying **the fruits of their labours** during retirement."
                }
            ],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["manual", "physical", "back-breaking"],
                "verb + labour/​labor": ["withdraw"],
                "labour/​labor + noun": ["productivity", "camp"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "the people who work or are available for work in a country or company",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "ox3000": true,
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "**forced/slave labour**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a shortage of labour"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Companies are making huge profits by exploiting **cheap labour** in poor countries."
                },
                {
                    "text": "There is a growing demand for **skilled labour**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "New **labour laws** make it more difficult for employers to sack workers."
                },
                {
                    "text": "good **labour relations** *(= the relationship between workers and employers)*"
                },
                {
                    "text": "The sector is reliant on migrant labour."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Repairs involve skilled labour, which can be expensive."
                },
                {
                    "text": "tensions between the labour movement and government"
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Working life"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["free", "organized", "wage"],
                "labour/​labor + noun": ["force", "market", "pool"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "the period of time or the process of giving birth to a baby",
            "sensetop": "in labour",
            "cefr": "c2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Jane was in labour for ten hours.",
                    "contextForm": "in labour"
                },
                {
                    "text": "She **went into labour** early."
                },
                {
                    "text": "labour pains"
                },
                {
                    "text": "It was a difficult labour."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Older women tend to have more difficult labours."
                },
                {
                    "text": "She went into labour two weeks early."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The baby was born after a long labour."
                },
                {
                    "text": "women at risk of preterm labour"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Labour was induced when the baby was ten days overdue."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Life stages"],
            "collocations": {
                "adjective": ["difficult", "easy", "long"],
                "verb + labour/​labor": ["go into", "induce"],
                "labour/​labor + noun": ["room", "ward", "pains"],
                "preposition": ["in labour"]
            }
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 5,
            "definition": "the British Labour Party",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "He always votes Labour."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Labour was/were in power for many years."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Politics"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "a hard task that you do because you want to, not because it is necessary",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Writing the book was a labour of love."
                }
            ]
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈleɪbə(r)/",
                "audio": "la/labour/labour__gb_2.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/ˈleɪbər/",
                "audio": "la/labour/labour__us_2.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Middle English: from Old French labour (noun), labourer (verb), both from Latin labor ‘toil, trouble’."
}