toll
1a payment or fee exacted by the state, the local authorities, etc., for some right or privilege, as for passage along a road or over a bridge.
the extent of loss, damage, suffering, etc., resulting from some action or calamity: The toll was 300 persons dead or missing.
a tax, duty, or tribute, as for services or use of facilities.
a payment made for a long-distance telephone call.
(formerly, in England) the right to take such payment.
a compensation for services, as for transportation or transmission.
grain retained by a miller in payment for grinding.
to collect (something) as toll.
to impose a tax or toll on (a person).
to collect toll; levy toll.
Origin of toll
1Other words for toll
Other definitions for toll (2 of 3)
to cause (a large bell) to sound with single strokes slowly and regularly repeated, as for summoning a congregation to church, or especially for announcing a death.
to sound or strike (a knell, the hour, etc.) by such strokes: In the distance Big Ben tolled five.
to announce by this means; ring a knell for (a dying or dead person).
to summon or dismiss by tolling.
to lure or decoy (game) by arousing curiosity.
to allure; entice: He tolls us on with fine promises.
to sound with single strokes slowly and regularly repeated, as a bell.
the act of tolling a bell.
one of the strokes made in tolling a bell.
the sound made.
Origin of toll
2Other definitions for toll (3 of 3)
to suspend or interrupt, as a statute of limitations.
Origin of toll
3Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use toll in a sentence
In Illinois, there was a new high of infections again — 12,657 — marking a toll of at least 10,000 cases each day over the past week.
As coronavirus soars, hospitals hope to avoid an agonizing choice: Who gets care and who goes home | Darryl Fears, Joel Achenbach, Brittney Martin | November 12, 2020 | Washington PostThat was especially true during the 1960s, when the Apollo program offered a reprieve from the death toll in Vietnam.
During a year of tumult, space has been a rare bright spot. SpaceX and NASA hope to keep it that way. | Christian Davenport | November 11, 2020 | Washington PostThat death toll continues to rise even as it is overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Johnson & Johnson, three other companies close in on $26 billion deal on opioid litigation | Joel Achenbach, Christopher Rowland, Katie Zezima, Aaron Davis | November 6, 2020 | Washington PostWith the arrival of flu season, the death toll could be staggering.
The staff would not hear from Morse again in an all-hands setting until three months later when he told them that CNN was shutting down Great Big Story because of the pandemic’s toll on its revenue.
‘Two very, very different companies’: Why CNN’s Great Big Story failed to survive | Tim Peterson | November 2, 2020 | Digiday
And then came the final bell-tolling moment of truth: When someone compared you to Bon Jovi, you took it as a compliment.
Bells were pealing and tolling in all directions, and the air was filled with the sound of distant shouts and cries.
Davy and The Goblin | Charles E. CarrylA hundred years back, meetings of the inhabitants were called by the tolling of one of St. Martin's bells.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham | Thomas T. Harman and Walter ShowellThe regular tolling of the gong, calling to toil or meals, accentuates the enervating routine.
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist | Alexander BerkmanThe tolling of the bell was the acceptance of the vow on the part of the Virgin.
In the meantime, the speed was slackening, and by and by the harsh tolling of the locomotive bell echoed among the pines.
The Girl From Keller's | Harold Bindloss
British Dictionary definitions for toll (1 of 2)
/ (təʊl) /
to ring or cause to ring slowly and recurrently
(tr) to summon, warn, or announce by tolling
US and Canadian to decoy (game, esp ducks)
the act or sound of tolling
Origin of toll
1British Dictionary definitions for toll (2 of 2)
/ (təʊl, tɒl) /
an amount of money levied, esp for the use of certain roads, bridges, etc, to cover the cost of maintenance
(as modifier): toll road; toll bridge
loss or damage incurred through an accident, disaster, etc: the war took its toll of the inhabitants
Also called: tollage (formerly) the right to levy a toll
Also called: toll charge NZ a charge for a telephone call beyond a free-dialling area
Origin of toll
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with toll
see take its toll.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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