Toil
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -ɔɪl
- Rhymes: -ɔɪəl
Alternative forms
- toyle obsolete
Origin
From Middle English toilen, toylen, apparently a conflation of Anglo-Norman toiler ("to agitate, stir up, entangle") (compare Old Northern French toiller, touellier ("to agitate, stir"; of unknown origin)), and Middle English tilen, telien, teolien, tolen, tolien, tulien ("to till, work, labour"), from Old English tilian, telian, teolian, tiolian ("to exert oneself, toil, work, make, generate, strive after, try, endeavor, procure, obtain, gain, provide, tend, cherish, cultivate, till, plough, trade, traffic, aim at, aspire to, treat, cure") (compare Middle Dutch tuylen, teulen ("to till, work, labour")), from Proto-Germanic *tilÅnÄ… ("to strive, reach for, aim for, hurry"). Cognate with Scots tulyie ("to quarrel, flite, contend").
Alternate etymology derives Middle English toilen, toylen from Middle Dutch tuylen, teulen ("to work, labour, till"), from tuyl ("agriculture, labour, toil"). Cognate with Old Frisian teula ("to labour, toil"), Old Frisian teule ("labour, work"). More at till.
Full definition of toil
Noun
toil
(plural toils)- labour, work
- 1908: Kenneth Grahame, ...he set to work again and made the snow fly in all directions around him. After some further toil his efforts were rewarded, and a very shabby door-mat lay exposed to view.
- trouble, strife
- A net or snare; any thread, web, or string spread for taking prey; usually in the plural.
- DenhamAs a Numidian lion, when first caught,
Endures the toil that holds him. - DrydenThen toils for beasts, and lime for birds, were found.