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 1300–50; Middle English noun toil(e) “violent conflict, battle,” from Anglo-French toil(e), toyl “contention,” from Old French toeil, tooil “confusion, contention, battle,” ultimately from Latin tudiculāre “to stir up, beat,” verbal derivative of tudicula “machine for crushing olives,” equivalent to tudi- (stem of tundere “to strike, beat”) + -cula -cule2
OTHER WORDS FROM toil
toiler, nounun·toil·ing, adjectiveOther definitions for toil (2 of 2)
toil2
[ toil ]
/ tɔɪl /
noun
Origin of toil
2Fifst recorded in 1520–30; from French toile, from Latin tēla “web”
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
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
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