Painful effort (7)
I believe the answer is:
travail
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">painful effort</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I've seen this before)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is all the clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for travail that I've seen before include "Painful or laborious effort, like childbirth" , "Labour, toil" , "Painful labour" , "painful exercise" , "Old word for pangs of childbirth" .)