Adjacent Words

Toil definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TOIL, v.i. To labor; to work; to exert strength with pain and fatigue of body or mind, particularly of the body, with efforts of some continuance or duration.
Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Luke 5.
TOIL, v.t. To toil out, to labor; to work out.
Toil'd out my uncouth passage--
1. To weary; to overlabor; as toil'd with works of war.
[Not in use nor proper.]
TOIL, n. Labor with pain and fatigue; labor that oppresses the body or mind. Toil may be the labor of the field or the workshop, or of the camp. What toils men endure for the acquisition of wealth, power and honor! Genesis 5.
TOIL, n. [L. tela, a web; from spreading, extending or laying.]
A net or snare; any thread, web or string spread for taking prey.
A fly falls into the toils of a spider.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: productive work (especially physical work done for wages); "his labor did not require a great deal of skill" [syn: labor, labour, toil] v
1: work hard; "She was digging away at her math homework"; "Lexicographers drudge all day long" [syn: labor, labour, toil, fag, travail, grind, drudge, dig, moil]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English toile, from Anglo-French toyl, from toiller Date: 14th century 1. archaic a. struggle, battle b. laborious effort 2. long strenuous fatiguing labor Synonyms: see work • toilful adjective • toilfully adverb II. verb Etymology: Middle English, to argue, struggle, from Anglo-French toiller to make dirty, fight, wrangle, from Latin tudiculare to crush, grind, from tudicula machine for crushing olives, diminutive of tudes hammer; akin to Latin tundere to beat — more at contusion Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. to work hard and long 2. to proceed with laborious effort ; plod transitive verb 1. archaic overwork 2. archaic to get or accomplish with great effort • toiler noun III. noun Etymology: Middle French toile cloth, net, from Old French teile, Latin tela cloth on a loom — more at subtle Date: circa 1529 1. a net to trap game 2. something by which one is held fast or inextricably involved ; snare, trap — usually used in plural <caught in the toils of the law>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.intr. 1 work laboriously or incessantly. 2 make slow painful progress (toiled along the path). --n. prolonged or intensive labour; drudgery. Phrases and idioms: toil-worn worn or worn out by toil. Derivatives: toiler n. Etymology: ME f. AF toiler (v.), toil (n.), dispute, OF tooilier, tooil, f. L tudiculare stir about f. tudicula machine for bruising olives, rel. to tundere beat

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Toil Toil, n. [F. toiles, pl., toils, nets, fr. toile cloth, canvas, spider web, fr. L. tela any woven stuff, a web, fr. texere to weave. See Text, and cf. Toilet.] A net or snare; any thread, web, or string spread for taking prey; -- usually in the plural. As a Numidian lion, when first caught, Endures the toil that holds him. --Denham. Then toils for beasts, and lime for birds, were found. --Dryden.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Toil Toil, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Toiled; p. pr. & vb. n. Toiling.] [OE. toilen to pull about, to toil; of uncertain origin; cf. OD. teulen, tuylen, to labor, till, or OF. tooillier, toailler, to wash, rub (cf. Towel); or perhaps ultimately from the same root as E. tug.] To exert strength with pain and fatigue of body or mind, especially of the body, with efforts of some continuance or duration; to labor; to work.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Toil Toil, v. t. 1. To weary; to overlabor. [Obs.] ``Toiled with works of war.'' --Shak. 2. To labor; to work; -- often with out. [R.] Places well toiled and husbanded. --Holland. [I] toiled out my uncouth passage. --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Toil Toil, n. [OE. toil turmoil, struggle; cf. OD. tuyl labor, work. See Toil, v.] Labor with pain and fatigue; labor that oppresses the body or mind, esp. the body. My task of servile toil. --Milton. After such bloody toil, we bid good night. --Shak. Note: Toil is used in the formation of compounds which are generally of obvious signification; as, toil-strung, toil-wasted, toil-worn, and the like. Syn: Labor; drudgery; work; exertion; occupation; employment; task; travail. Usage: Toil, Labor, Drudgery. Labor implies strenuous exertion, but not necessary such as overtasks the faculties; toil denotes a severity of labor which is painful and exhausting; drudgery implies mean and degrading work, or, at least, work which wearies or disgusts from its minuteness or dull uniformity. You do not know the heavy grievances, The toils, the labors, weary drudgeries, Which they impose. --Southern. How often have I blessed the coming day, When toil remitting lent its turn to play. --Goldsmith.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(toils, toiling, toiled) 1. When people toil, they work very hard doing unpleasant or tiring tasks. (LITERARY) People who toiled in dim, dank factories were too exhausted to enjoy their family life... Workers toiled long hours. VERB: V, V n • Toil away means the same as toil. She has toiled away at the violin for years... Nora toils away serving burgers at the local cafe. PHRASAL VERB: V P at/on n, V P 2. Toil is unpleasant work that is very tiring physically. (LITERARY)

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. Labor (hard), work, strive, drudge, moil, exert one's self, take pains. II. n. 1. Labor (that fatigues), work, exertion, pains, effort, drudgery, hard work, travail. 2. Snare, net, trap, springe, noose, gin.

Moby Thesaurus

bait, be employed, birdlime, bola, burden, carry on business, cobweb, cramp, cripple, cumber, dig, dirty work, do business, donkeywork, dragnet, drive, drudge, drudgery, embarrass, employment, encumber, enmesh, ensnarl, entangle, entoil, entrammel, entrap, entwine, fag, fatigue, fetter, fishhook, fly, follow a trade, gill net, grind, ground bait, grub, hammer, hammer away, hamper, hamstring, handicap, handiwork, handwork, have a job, hobble, hook, impede, industry, involve, jig, keep up, labor, lame, lariat, lasso, lick, lick of work, lime, lumber, lure, manual labor, meshes, moil, moonlight, muck, net, noose, peg, peg away, plod, plug, plug along, plug away, pound away, pound net, practice a profession, press down, purse seine, rat race, saddle with, scut work, seine, set up shop, shackle, slave, slavery, slog, slogging, slop, snare, snarl, sniggle, spadework, spinner, springe, squid, stay employed, stodge, strain, strive, stroke, stroke of work, sweat, tangle, task, tiresome work, toils, trammel, transact business, trash, travail, trawl, treadmill, trudge, tug, wade through, weigh down, wobbler, work, work at, work away, work for