<B>labor organization,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any group of workers legally empowered to deal with employers on labor disputes, grievances, or conditions of employment, especially as a labor union. </DL>
<A NAME="laborpains">
<B>labor pains,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the muscular contractions and pains of childbirth. <DD><B> 2. </B>the difficulties encountered at the beginning of an endeavor or enterprise. <BR> <I>Ex. the labor pains of starting a new book.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laborparty">
<B>Labor Party,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any political party organized to protect and promote the interests of workers. </DL>
<A NAME="laborrelations">
<B>labor relations,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the study or practice of improving relations between labor and management. </DL>
<A NAME="laborsaving">
<B>labor-saving</B> or <B>laborsaving, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> that takes the place of or lessens labor. <BR> <I>Ex. A washing machine is a labor-saving device. The neat labor-saving cook-stove had as yet no being (Harriet Beecher Stowe).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laborskate">
<B>labor skate,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a labor unionist. <BR> <I>Ex. These were no local cops picking up a labor skate for disturbing the peace (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laborsome">
<B>laborsome, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> laborious or toilsome. adv. <B>laborsomely.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="laborturnover">
<B>labor turnover,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the number of new workers hired in place of workers who have left their jobs. <DD><B> 2. </B>the proportion of new workers hired to the average number of workers an employer has working for him. <BR> <I>Ex. In many industries men are "hired and fired" freely, and a labor turnover of 100 per cent in a year has been known to occur (Emory S. Bogardus).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laborunion">
<B>labor union,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a group of workers joined to protect and promote their interests, especially by dealing as a group with their employers; union. </DL>
<A NAME="laborunionist">
<B>labor unionist,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a labor union. <BR> <I>Ex. Labor unionists believe in collective bargaining (Emory S. Bogardus).</I> </DL>
<B>Labour, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with the Labour Party. <BR> <I>Ex. a Labour politician.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="labourite">
<B>Labourite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of the British Labour Party. <BR> <I>Ex. A large majority of the Labourites in Parliament disapproved.</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> (Abbr:) Lab. </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="labourparty">
<B>Labour Party,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a political party in Great Britain that claims especially to protect the rights and advance the interests of working people. It is one of the two major British political parties and was founded by the trade unions late in the 1800's but has attracted much middle-class and intellectual support. </DL>
<A NAME="labourwallah">
<B>Labourwallah, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in Kenya and some other parts of eastern Africa) a prominent member of the Labour movement. </DL>
<A NAME="labra">
<B>labra, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> plural of <B>labrum.</B> </DL>
<B>Labrador blue,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a very dark blue color. </DL>
<A NAME="labradorcurrent">
<B>Labrador Current,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a current of cold water that rises in the Arctic Ocean and flows along the coast of Labrador to a point near Newfoundland, where it meets the Gulf Stream. </DL>
<A NAME="labradorduck">
<B>Labrador duck,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a sea duck of the northern Atlantic coast of North America, extinct since the 1870's, the male of which was black with white head and markings. </DL>
<A NAME="labradorescence">
<B>labradorescence, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the brilliant play of colors exhibited by labradorite. </DL>
<A NAME="labradorian">
<B>Labradorian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with the peninsula of Labrador, in northeastern North America. <DD><I>noun </I> a native or inhabitant of Labrador. </DL>
<A NAME="labradorite">
<B>labradorite, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a mineral, a kind of feldspar, that shows a brilliant display of colors when light strikes it. Architects use plates of rock containing labradorite to ornament buildings. </DL>
<A NAME="labradoritic">
<B>labradoritic, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or like labradorite. </DL>
<A NAME="labradorretriever">
<B>Labrador retriever,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a medium-sized hunting dog used on land or water to retrieve game. It has a thick, water-resistant coat and is black, chocolate, or yellow in color. The breed originated in Newfoundland. </DL>
<A NAME="labradortea">
<B>Labrador tea,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>any of a group of low, evergreen shrubs of the heath family, growing in bogs and swamps of arctic and subarctic regions. <DD><B> 2. </B>tea made with the leaves of a plant of this group. </DL>
<A NAME="labral">
<B>labral, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of a labrum or liplike part. </DL>
<A NAME="labret">
<B>labret, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an ornament stuck into or through the lip. Labrets are often a piece of wood, stone, bone, or shell worn by certain primitive peoples. </DL>
<A NAME="labroid">
<B>labroid, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having the spiny fins and thick lips characteristic of the family of fishes including the wrasses. <DD><I>noun </I> any fish belonging to this family. </DL>
<A NAME="labrum">
<B>labrum, </B>noun, pl. <B>labra,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a lip or liplike part. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Zoology.) <DD><B> a. </B>the upper lip of insects and certain other arthropods. <DD><B> b. </B>the outer margin of the opening of a gastropod shell. </DL>
<A NAME="labrusca">
<B>labrusca, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, having to do with, or obtained from a species of fox grape used in making many American wines. </DL>
<A NAME="laburnum">
<B>laburnum, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small, poisonous tree or shrub with hanging clusters of bright-yellow flowers. There are several kinds of laburnum, including the golden chain, all belonging to the pea family; all are native to Asia or Europe. </DL>
<A NAME="labware">
<B>labware, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> utensils, as of glass, porcelain, or metal, that are used in a laboratory. <BR> <I>Ex. Like all Pyrex labware, these coils are corrosion resistant (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="labyrinth">
<B>Labyrinth, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Greek Mythology.) the maze built by Daedalus for King Minos of Crete to imprison the Minotaur. </DL>
<A NAME="labyrinth">
<B>labyrinth, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a number of connecting passages so arranged that it is hard to find one's way from point to point; maze. <DD><B> 2a. </B>any confusing, complicated arrangement, such as of streets or buildings. <BR> <I>Ex. We could not find our way out of the labyrinth of dark and narrow streets.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(Figurative.) a confusing, complicated state of affairs. <BR> <I>Ex. Undeniably he [Charles de Gaulle] had resurrected French strength by leading the nation out of the colonial labyrinth (John C. Cairns).</I> (SYN) intricacy, complexity. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Anatomy.) the inner ear, consisting of a bony and a membranous part. The labyrinth holds the end fibers of the auditory nerves. adj. <B>labyrinthlike.</B> </DL>
<B>labyrinthine, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>of or forming a labyrinth. <BR> <I>Ex. labyrinthine passages.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) confusing and complicated; intricate. <BR> <I>Ex. ... down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind (Francis Thompson).</I> (SYN) involved, inextricable. </DL>
<A NAME="labyrinthitis">
<B>labyrinthitis, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> inflammation of the inner ear. </DL>
<B>labyrinthodont, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> <B>1. </B>having teeth with a labyrinthlike internal structure. <DD><B> 2. </B>of or having to do with a family of large, sometimes huge, extinct amphibians, with a labyrinthlike tooth structure. <DD><I>noun </I> a labyrinthodont amphibian. <BR> <I>Ex. Some primitive fossil labyrinthodonts probably were ancestral to the oldest reptiles and so to all higher land vertebrates (Tracy I. Storer).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="labyrinthspider">
<B>labyrinth spider,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a spider that spins a tangled web to hide from its prey and a nearly circular web anchored at various points around the circumference in which to catch insects. </DL>
<A NAME="lac">
<B>lac</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a sticky substance deposited on various trees in southern Asia by scale insects. Lac is used especially in making sealing wax, varnish, red dye, and shellac. </DL>
<B>lac</B> (3), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with the lac operon. <BR> <I>Ex. The lac repressor binds to DNA that contains the lac genes but not to DNA without lac genes (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="lacandon">
<B>Lacandon, </B>noun, pl. <B>-don,</B> <B>-dones.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a member of a small primitive tribe of Indians, believed to be descendants of the Mayas, living in southern Mexico near Guatemala. </DL>
<A NAME="laccate">
<B>laccate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having the appearance of being lacquered. <BR> <I>Ex. laccate leaves.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laccolite">
<B>laccolite, </B>noun. <B>=laccolith.</B></DL>
<A NAME="laccolith">
<B>laccolith, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a large mass of igneous rock that has spread on rising from below, causing the overlying strata to bulge upward in a domelike formation. </DL>
