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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.
OTHER WORDS FOR toil
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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
Other definitions 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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The noun toil refers to hard and continuous work. How is toil different from drudgery, labor, and work? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
How to use toil in a sentence
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
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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