Nearby Words
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.
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Toil
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is skedaddle. Does it mean:
| to run away hurriedly; flee. |
| to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly. |
verb (used with object)
6.
to accomplish or produce by toil.
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English toile (noun), toilen (v.) < Anglo-French toil contention, toiler to contend < Latin tudiculāre to stir up, beat, verbal derivative of tudicula machine for crushing olives, equivalent to tudi- (stem of tundere to beat) + -cula -cule2
1250–1300; Middle English toile (noun), toilen (v.) < Anglo-French toil contention, toiler to contend < Latin tudiculāre to stir up, beat, verbal derivative of tudicula machine for crushing olives, equivalent to tudi- (stem of tundere to beat) + -cula -cule2
Related forms
toil·er, noun
un·toil·ing, adjective
Antonyms
1. indolence, sloth.
1. indolence, sloth.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
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; < French toile < Latin tēla web
1520–30; < French toile < Latin tēla web
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
|
Link To toil
Collins
World English Dictionary
| toil1 (tɔɪl) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | hard or exhausting work |
| 2. | an obsolete word for strife |
| —vb | |
| 3. | (intr) to labour |
| 4. | (intr) to progress with slow painful movements: to toil up a hill |
| 5. | archaic (tr) to achieve by toil |
| [C13: from Anglo-French toiler to struggle, from Old French toeillier to confuse, from Latin tudiculāre to stir, from tudicula machine for bruising olives, from tudes a hammer, from tundere to beat] | |
| 'toiler1 | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
toil
"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
EXPAND crushing," from root of tundere "to pound" (see obtuse). Sense of "hard work, labor" (1590s) is from the related verb toilen (early 14c.) "to drag, struggle," which had acquired a sense of "hard work" by late 14c. Replaced O.E. swincan.
toil
"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, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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