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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

tra·vail

Audio Help [truh-veyl, trav-eyl] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	painfully difficult or burdensome work; toil.

2.	pain, anguish or suffering resulting from mental or physical hardship.

3.	the pain of childbirth.

–verb (used without object)

4.	to suffer the pangs of childbirth; be in labor.

5.	to toil or exert oneself.

[Origin: 1200–50; (v.) ME travaillen < OF travaillier to torment < VL *trepaliāre to torture, deriv. of LL trepālium torture chamber, lit., instrument of torture made with three stakes (see tri-, pale²); (n.) ME < OF: suffering, deriv. of travailler

]

—Synonyms 1. labor, moil. 2. torment, agony.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Travail

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

tra·vail Audio Help (trə-vāl', trāv'āl') Pronunciation Key
n.

Work, especially when arduous or involving painful effort; toil. See Synonyms at work.
Tribulation or agony; anguish.
The labor of childbirth.

intr.v. tra·vailed, tra·vail·ing, tra·vails

To work strenuously; toil.
To be in the labor of childbirth.

[Middle English, from Old French, from travailler, to work hard, from Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre, to torture with a tripalium, from Late Latin tripālium, instrument of torture, probably from Latin tripālis, having three stakes : tri-, tri- + pālus, stake; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
travail (n.)

"labor, toil," c.1250, from O.Fr. travail "suffering or painful effort, trouble" (12c.), from travailler "to toil, labor," originally "to trouble, torture," from V.L. *tripaliare "to torture," from *tripalium (in L.L. trepalium) "instrument of torture," probably from L. tripalis "having three stakes" (from tria, tres "three" + palus "stake"), which sounds ominous, but the exact notion is obscure. The verb is recorded from c.1300.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

travail
noun
1.	concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child; "she was in labor for six hours" [syn: parturiency]
2.	use of physical or mental energy; hard work; "he got an A for effort"; "they managed only with great exertion" [syn: effort]
verb
1.	work hard; "She was digging away at her math homework"; "Lexicographers drudge all day long" [syn: labor]

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: tra·vail
Pronunciation: tr&-'vA(&)l, 'trav-"Al
Function: noun
:

LABOR

, PARTURITION

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Travail

Tra`vail"\, n. [Cf. F. travail, a frame for confining a horse, or OF. travail beam, and E. trave, n. Cf. Travail, v. i.] Same as Travois.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Travail

Tra`vail"\, n. [Cf. F. travail, a frame for confining a horse, or OF. travail beam, and E. trave, n. Cf. Travail, v. i.] Same as Travois.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Travail

Tra`vois"\, n. [Cf. Travail.]

1. A primitive vehicle, common among the North American Indians, usually two trailing poles serving as shafts and bearing a platform or net for a load.

On the plains they will have horses dragging travoises; dogs with travoises, women and children loaded with impediments. --Julian Ralph.

2. A logging sled. [Northern U. S. & Canada]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Travail

Trav"ail\ (?; 48), n. [F. travail; cf. Pr. trabalh, trebalh, toil, torment, torture; probably from LL. trepalium a place where criminals are tortured, instrument of torture. But the French word may be akin to L. trabs a beam, or have been influenced by a derivative from trabs (cf. Trave). Cf. Travel.]

1. Labor with pain; severe toil or exertion.

As everything of price, so this doth require travail. --Hooker.

2. Parturition; labor; as, an easy travail.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

travail

travail: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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