toll
1a payment or fee exacted by the state, the local authorities, etc., for some right or privilege, as for passage along a road or over a bridge.
the extent of loss, damage, suffering, etc., resulting from some action or calamity: The toll was 300 persons dead or missing.
a tax, duty, or tribute, as for services or use of facilities.
a payment made for a long-distance telephone call.
(formerly, in England) the right to take such payment.
a compensation for services, as for transportation or transmission.
grain retained by a miller in payment for grinding.
to collect (something) as toll.
to impose a tax or toll on (a person).
to collect toll; levy toll.
Origin of toll
1Other words for toll
Other definitions for toll (2 of 3)
to cause (a large bell) to sound with single strokes slowly and regularly repeated, as for summoning a congregation to church, or especially for announcing a death.
to sound or strike (a knell, the hour, etc.) by such strokes: In the distance Big Ben tolled five.
to announce by this means; ring a knell for (a dying or dead person).
to summon or dismiss by tolling.
to lure or decoy (game) by arousing curiosity.
to allure; entice: He tolls us on with fine promises.
to sound with single strokes slowly and regularly repeated, as a bell.
the act of tolling a bell.
one of the strokes made in tolling a bell.
the sound made.
Origin of toll
2Other definitions for toll (3 of 3)
to suspend or interrupt, as a statute of limitations.
Origin of toll
3Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use toll in a sentence
Those are the figures that will tell us whether the bell really has tolled for peace.
It tolled One when the firing began; and is now pointing towards Five, and still the firing slakes not.
A Wanderer in Paris | E. V. LucasA distant church clock tolled the hour of midnight as he gained the seashore.
Jack Harkaway's Boy Tinker Among The Turks | Bracebridge HemyngHis death, which happened in his berth,At forty-odd befell: They went and told the sexton, andThe sexton tolled the bell.
The Book of Humorous Verse | VariousThen the big clock once again tolled the hour, and Ronald laughed with glee.
Sue, A Little Heroine | L. T. Meade
The bell of the cathedral tolled, and fearfully she counted its strokes.
The Secret Witness | George Gibbs
British Dictionary definitions for toll (1 of 2)
/ (təʊl) /
to ring or cause to ring slowly and recurrently
(tr) to summon, warn, or announce by tolling
US and Canadian to decoy (game, esp ducks)
the act or sound of tolling
Origin of toll
1British Dictionary definitions for toll (2 of 2)
/ (təʊl, tɒl) /
an amount of money levied, esp for the use of certain roads, bridges, etc, to cover the cost of maintenance
(as modifier): toll road; toll bridge
loss or damage incurred through an accident, disaster, etc: the war took its toll of the inhabitants
Also called: tollage (formerly) the right to levy a toll
Also called: toll charge NZ a charge for a telephone call beyond a free-dialling area
Origin of toll
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with toll
see take its toll.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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