travail
[truh-veyl, trav-eyl]
- painfully difficult or burdensome work; toil.
- pain, anguish or suffering resulting from mental or physical hardship.
- the pain of childbirth.
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- to suffer the pangs of childbirth; be in labor.
- to toil or exert oneself.
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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
See more synonyms for travail on Thesaurus.com1. labor, moil. 2. torment, agony.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for travails
Contemporary Examples
He returned home a pauper without a pension and 50 years later, at 70, chronicled the travails of the War of Independence.
The whole history of Western film and TV is mostly the travails of wealthy people with problems only the wealthy can understand.
Ira is classic Moore; his travails feature her signature blend of absurdity and desperation.
It was he who guided us through the travails of early adulthood.
That quip reflected his own travails with thinking outside the box.
Historical Examples
For duty is God's midwife, sent to deliver the soul that travails in its anguish.
St. Cuthbert'sRobert E. Knowles
No more then remember we our pains; our ship-wrecks and dangers are forgotten; we fear no more the travails and the thieves.
Some Noble SistersEdmund Lee
Seeing the splendor reserved for itself, it groans and travails unceasingly.
Epistle Sermons, Vol. IIIMartin Luther
His heart yearns towards them; he travails over them in birth again.
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the GalatiansG. G. Findlay
The Travails dealt with a matter of ephemeral interest, and would not long have held the public.
Francis Beaumont: DramatistCharles Mills Gayley
travail
- painful or excessive labour or exertion
- the pangs of childbirth; labour
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- (intr) to suffer or labour painfully, esp in childbirth
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Word Origin
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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Word Origin and History for travails
travail
n.
"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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper