toil
1[ toil ]
/ tɔɪl /
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noun
hard and continuous work; exhausting labor or effort.
a laborious task.
Archaic. battle; strife; struggle.
verb (used without object)
to engage in hard and continuous work; labor arduously: to toil in the fields.
to move or travel with difficulty, weariness, or pain.
verb (used with object)
to accomplish or produce by toil.
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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.
Origin of toil
1First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English toile (noun), toilen (verb), from Anglo-French toil “contention,” toiler “to contend,” from Latin tudiculāre “to stir up, beat,” verbal derivative of tudicula “machine for crushing olives,” equivalent to tudi- (stem of tundere “to beat”) + -cula -cule2
OTHER WORDS FROM toil
toiler, nounun·toil·ing, adjectiveWords nearby toil
Definition for toil (2 of 2)
toil2
[ toil ]
/ tɔɪl /
noun
Usually toils . a net or series of nets in which game known to be in the area is trapped or into which game outside of the area is driven.
Usually toils . trap; snare: to be caught in the toils of a gigantic criminal conspiracy.
Archaic. any snare or trap for wild beasts.
Origin of toil
21520–30; <French toile<Latin tēla web
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
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What are other ways to say toil?
The noun toil refers to hard and continuous work. How is toil different from drudgery, labor, and work? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Example sentences from the Web for toil
British Dictionary definitions for toil (1 of 2)
toil1
/ (tɔɪl) /
noun
hard or exhausting work
an obsolete word for strife
verb
(intr) to labour
(intr) to progress with slow painful movementsto toil up a hill
(tr) archaic to achieve by toil
Derived forms of toil
toiler, nounWord Origin for toil
C13: from Anglo-French toiler to struggle, from Old French toeillier to confuse, from Latin tudiculāre to stir, from tudicula machine for bruising olives, from tudes a hammer, from tundere to beat
British Dictionary definitions for toil (2 of 2)
toil2
/ (tɔɪl) /
noun
(often plural) a net or snarethe toils of fortune had ensnared him
archaic a trap for wild beasts
Word Origin for toil
C16: from Old French toile, from Latin tēla loom
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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