toil1

[toil] /tɔɪl/
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; 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
toiler, noun
untoiling, adjective
Synonyms
1. exertion, travail, pains. See work. 4. strive, moil.
Antonyms
1. indolence, sloth.

toil2

[toil] /tɔɪl/
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
Examples from the web for toil
  • It was late because that's when many of the guests, who toil in restaurant kitchens, got off work.
  • Their toil feeds the world's hunger for gold, and leaves a ruined landscape in its wake.
  • The bridge project took four years of toil under brutal conditions.
  • Artists struggling to make ends meet toil for days for a pittance.
  • Hedge funds, the investment of choice for the rich, prefer to toil in anonymity.
  • They toil with stealthy haste and anger in their blood.
  • It is he who does not produce his bread with his own hands, but eats the fruit of others' toil.
  • The labor of conscientious translation is never slight, and the toil is not altogether lessened by being shared.
  • Life expectancy may be steadily increasing but few are eager to add to their years of toil.
  • They often toil long, irregular hours for not much money.
British Dictionary definitions for toil

toil1

/tɔɪl/
noun
1.
hard or exhausting work
2.
an obsolete word for strife
verb
3.
(intransitive) to labour
4.
(intransitive) to progress with slow painful movements: to toil up a hill
5.
(transitive) (archaic) to achieve by toil
Derived Forms
toiler, noun
Word Origin
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

toil2

/tɔɪl/
noun
1.
(often pl) a net or snare: the toils of fortune had ensnared him
2.
(archaic) a trap for wild beasts
Word Origin
C16: from Old French toile, from Latin tēla loom
Word Origin and History for toil
n.

"hard work," c.1300, "turmoil, contention, dispute," from Anglo-French toil (13c.), from toiler "agitate, stir up, entangle," from Old French toeillier "drag about, make dirty" (12c.), usually said to be from Latin tudiculare "crush with a small hammer," from tudicula "mill for crushing olives, instrument for crushing," from root of tundere "to pound" (see obtuse). Sense of "hard work, labor" (1590s) is from the related verb (see toil (v.)).

"net, snare," 1520s, from Middle French toile "hunting net, cloth, web" (cf. toile d'araignée "cobweb"), from Old French teile, from Latin tela "web, woven stuff," related to texere "to weave" (see texture). Now used largely in plural (caught in the toils of the law).

v.

c.1300, toilen, "pull at, tug;" late 14c. as "struggle, work, labor," from Anglo-French tuailler, Old French toellier (see toil (n.1)). Related: Toiled; toiling.