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

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How to use travail in a sentence

He returned home a pauper without a pension and 50 years later, at 70, chronicled the travails of the War of Independence.
McCain’s 13 Favorite Soldiers|Sandra McElwaine|November 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The whole history of Western film and TV is mostly the travails of wealthy people with problems only the wealthy can understand.
Complaining Like It’s 1999: ‘Fight Club,’ ‘American Beauty,’ and the Revolt of the Cubicle Drone|Arthur Chu|June 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Ira is classic Moore; his travails feature her signature blend of absurdity and desperation.
This Week’s Hot Reads: February 18, 2014|Mythili Rao|February 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It was he who guided us through the travails of early adulthood.
My Eulogy for My Father, Murray Frum|David Frum|May 31, 2013|DAILY BEAST

That quip reflected his own travails with thinking outside the box.
Peter Worthington on Thinking Outside the Box|David Frum|May 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
They took with them two dogs, which drew well-laden travails (sledges), and hoped to arrive there in about nine days.
Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-1834, Part III (the Text Being Chapters XXVIII-XXXIII of the London Edition, 1843, and the Appendix a Combination of the Appendices of the London and German [Coblentz, 1839] Editions)|Maximilian, Prinz von Wied
And so I leave the Captain, walking slowly, already forgetful of my recent travails, blind to the things about me.
'Neath Verdun, August-October, 1914|Maurice Genevoix
His heart yearns towards them; he travails over them in birth again.
The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Galatians|G. G. Findlay
Better travails, I suppose, had the Stoics taken in this argument, as far as I can gather by that which we have at second hand.
The Advancement of Learning|Francis Bacon
More often the emotion precedes the conception; the vague, awed sense of God travails till a new thought is born among men.
The Right and Wrong Uses of the Bible|R. Heber Newton

British Dictionary definitions 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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

travail

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British Dictionary definitions for travail

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