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toil

 - 6 dictionary results

toil

1  [toil] ,
Use toil in a Sentence
–noun
1. hard and continuous work; exhausting labor or effort.
2. a laborious task.
3. Archaic. battle; strife; struggle.
–verb (used without object)
4. to engage in hard and continuous work; labor arduously: to toil in the fields.
5. to move or travel with difficulty, weariness, or pain.
–verb (used with object)
6. to accomplish or produce by toil.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME toile (n.), toilen (v.) < AF toil contention, toiler to contend < L tudiculāre to stir up, beat, v. deriv. of tudicula machine for crushing olives, equiv. to tudi- (s. of tundere to beat) + -cula -cule 2

Related forms:
toiler, noun

Synonyms:
1. exertion, travail, pains. See work. 4. strive, moil.

Antonyms:
1. indolence, sloth.

toil

2  [toil] ,
–noun
1. Usually, toils. a net or series of nets in which game known to be in the area is trapped or into which game outside of the area is driven.
2. Usually, toils. trap; snare: to be caught in the toils of a gigantic criminal conspiracy.
3. Archaic. any snare or trap for wild beasts.
Origin:
1520–30; < F toile < L tēla web
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To toil
toil 1   (toil)   
intr.v.   toiled, toil·ing, toils

  1. To labor continuously; work strenuously.

  2. To proceed with difficulty: toiling over the mountains.

n.  

  1. Exhausting labor or effort: "A bit of the blackest and coarsest bread is . . . the sole recompense and the sole profit attaching to so arduous a toil" (George Sand). See Synonyms at work.

  2. Archaic Strife; contention.


[Middle English toilen, from Anglo-Norman toiler, to stir about, from Latin tudiculāre, from tudicula, a machine for bruising olives, diminutive of tudes, hammer.]
toil'er n.
toil 2   (toil)   
n.  

  1. Something that binds, snares, or entangles one; an entrapment. Often used in the plural: caught in the toils of despair.

  2. Archaic A net for trapping game.


[French toile, cloth, from Old French teile, from Latin tēla, web; see teks- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

toil  (1)
"hard work," c.1300, "turmoil, contention, dispute," from Anglo-Fr. toil (13c.), from toiler "agitate, stir up, entangle," from O.Fr. toeillier "drag about, make dirty" (12c.), usually said to be from L. tudiculare "crush with a small hammer," from tudicula "mill for crushing olives, instrument for crushing," from root of tundere "to pound." Sense of "hard work, labor" (1594) is from the related verb toilen (c.1330) "to drag, struggle," which had acquired a sense of "hard work" by 1376. Replaced O.E. swincan.

toil  (2)
"net, snare," 1529, from M.Fr. toile "hunting net, cloth, web" (cf. toile d'araignée "cobweb"), from O.Fr. teile, from L. tela "web, woven stuff," related to texere "to weave" (see texture). Now used largely in plural (caught in the toils of the law).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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