4 entries under this word
v. i. [imp. & p. p. TOILED; p. pr. & vb. n. TOILING.] [A-S. teolian, tilian, to study, toil, O. D. teulen, tuylen, to labor, till, O. Fries. teula, to labor. See TILL, v. t. and n.] 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.
v. t. 1. To weary; to overlabor. [Obs.] “Toiled with works of war.” Shak.
Sense 2. To labor; to work;—often with out. [Rare.] “Places well toiled and husbanded.” Holland. “Toiled out my uncouth passage.” Milton.
n. [O. D. tuyl, labor, work, O. Fries. teule, tiole.] Labor with pain and fatigue; labor that oppresses the body or mind. “My task of servile toil.” Milton.
“After such bloody toil, we bid good night.” Shak.
Toil is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, toil-strung, toil-wasted, toil-worn, and the like.
Synonyms— Labor; drudgery; work; exertion; occupation; employment; task; travail. — TOIL, LABOR, DRUDGERY. Labor implies strenuous exertion, but not necessarily 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.
n. [Fr. toiles, pl., toils, nets, from toile, cloth, canvas, from Lat. tela, any woven stuff, a web, contracted from texela, from texere, to weave.] A net or snare; any thread, web, or string spread for taking prey.
As a Numidian lion, when first caught, Endures the toil that holds him. Denham.