moil

American  

[moil] / mɔɪl /

verb (used without object)

1. to work hard; drudge.

2. to whirl or churn ceaselessly; twist; eddy.

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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 British  

/ 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 )

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noun

1. toil; drudgery

2. confusion; turmoil

Other Word Forms

• moiler noun
• moilingly adverb
• unmoiled adjective

Etymology

Origin of moil

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”

Example Sentences

Last week, he dashed into a moil of rioting Juliette Barnes fans to save Maddie when a shelf fell on her head.

From Slate • Apr. 2, 2013

The scene becomes a moil of solo showing off, a gleeful choreographic cadenza that no choreographer could plot.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ill-health having retired him from the moil of politics, he has been teaching law at the University of Colorado since 1917.

From Time Magazine Archive

IX Amid Homeric moil and treachery the city of Shanghai changed hands, last week, falling to China's best detested War Lord, Chang Tsung-chang, called "Chang of Shantung."

From Time Magazine Archive

Folded and fenced with silence Mindless of moil and mart, It is twilight here in my garden, And twilight here in my heart.

From The Melody of Earth An Anthology of Garden and Nature Poems From Present-Day Poets by Various