travail

[ truh-veyl, trav-eyl ]
See synonyms for: travailtravailedtravailingtravails on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. painfully difficult or burdensome work; toil.

  2. pain, anguish or suffering resulting from mental or physical hardship.

  1. the pain of childbirth.

verb (used without object)
  1. to suffer the pangs of childbirth; be in labor.

  2. to toil or exert oneself.

Origin of travail

1
1200–50; (v.) Middle English travaillen<Old French travaillier to torment <Vulgar Latin *trepaliāre to torture, derivative of Late Latin trepālium torture chamber, literally, instrument of torture made with three stakes (see tri-, pale2); (noun) Middle English <Old French: suffering, derivative of travailler

Other words for travail

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use travail in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for travail

travail

/ (ˈtræveɪl) literary /


noun
  1. painful or excessive labour or exertion

  2. the pangs of childbirth; labour

verb
  1. (intr) to suffer or labour painfully, esp in childbirth

Origin of travail

1
C13: from Old French travaillier, from Vulgar Latin tripaliāre (unattested) to torture, from Late Latin trepālium instrument of torture, from Latin tripālis having three stakes, from trēs three + pālus stake

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012