moil

[ moil ]

verb (used without object)

1. to work hard; drudge.
2. to whirl or churn ceaselessly; twist; eddy.

verb (used with object)

1. Archaic. to wet or smear.

noun

1. hard work or drudgery.
2. confusion, turmoil, or trouble.
3. Glassmaking. a superfluous piece of glass formed during blowing and removed in the finishing operation.
4. Mining. a short hand tool with a polygonal point, used for breaking or prying out rock.

moil

/ mɔɪl /

verb

1. to moisten or soil or become moist, soiled, etc
2. intr to toil or drudge (esp in the phrase toil and moil )

noun

1. toil; drudgery
2. confusion; turmoil

Derived Forms

• ˈmoiler, noun

Other Words From

• moiler noun
• moiling·ly adverb
• un·moiled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of moil¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English mollen, mulllen, “to make or get wet and muddy,” from Middle French moillier, from unrecorded Vulgar Latin molliāre, derivative of Latin mollis “soft”

Word History and Origins

Origin of moil¹

C14 (to moisten; later: to work hard in unpleasantly wet conditions) from Old French moillier, ultimately from Latin mollis soft

Example Sentences

Others toil and moil all their lives long—and the very dogs are not pitiful in our days, as they were in the days of Lazarus.

From Project Gutenberg

The auld moil was nane so weel furnished i' the heid, but bairnies and beasts were unco' fond o' 'im.

From Project Gutenberg

Would he come clean through the moil, winning honor and his place among men?

From Project Gutenberg

He has no taste for the toil and moil of money-getting,—a refined, studious, thoughtful young man.

From Project Gutenberg

Ginet-moils, gennet-moil, a kind of apple ripe before others.

From Project Gutenberg