travail
[ truh-veyl, trav-eyl ]
/ trəˈveɪl, ˈtræv eɪl /
noun
painfully difficult or burdensome work; toil.
pain, anguish or suffering resulting from mental or physical hardship.
the pain of childbirth.
verb (used without object)
to suffer the pangs of childbirth; be in labor.
to toil or exert oneself.
RELATED WORDS
woe, agony, anguish, tribulation, exertion, stress, distress, work, suffering, labor, drudgery, toil, childbirth, effort, parturition, pains
Nearby words
- traumato-,
- traumatogenic occlusion,
- traumatology,
- traumatopnea,
- trav.,
- travancore,
- trave,
- travel,
- travel agency,
- travel agent
Origin of travail
1200–50; (v.) Middle English travaillen < Old French travaillier to torment < Vulgar Latin *trepaliāre to torture, derivative of Late Latin trepālium torture chamber, literally, instrument of torture made with three stakes (see tri-, pale2); (noun) Middle English < Old French: suffering, derivative of travailler
SYNONYMS FOR travail
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for travail
travail
/ (ˈtræveɪl) literary /
noun
painful or excessive labour or exertion
the pangs of childbirth; labour
verb
(intr) to suffer or labour painfully, esp in childbirth
Word Origin for travail
C13: from Old French travaillier, from Vulgar Latin tripaliāre (unattested) to torture, from Late Latin trepālium instrument of torture, from Latin tripālis having three stakes, from trēs three + pālus stake
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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travail
"labor, toil," mid-13c., from Old French travail "suffering or painful effort, trouble" (12c.), from travailler "to toil, labor," originally "to trouble, torture," from Vulgar Latin *tripaliare "to torture," from *tripalium (in Late Latin trepalium) "instrument of torture," probably from Latin tripalis "having three stakes" (from tria, tres "three" + palus "stake"), which sounds ominous, but the exact notion is obscure. The verb is recorded from late 13c.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper