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travail

 - 4 dictionary results

tra⋅vail

  [truh-veyl, trav-eyl]
Use travail in a Sentence
–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-, pale 2 ); (n.) ME < OF: suffering, deriv. of travailler

Synonyms:
1. labor, moil. 2. torment, agony.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To travail
tra·vail   (trə-vāl', trāv'āl')   
n.  

  1. Work, especially when arduous or involving painful effort; toil. See Synonyms at work.

  2. Tribulation or agony; anguish.

  3. The labor of childbirth.

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

  1. To work strenuously; toil.

  2. 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.]
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

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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: tra·vail
Pronunciation: tr&-'vA(&)l, 'trav-"Al
Function: noun
: LABOR, PARTURITION
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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