Wiktionary

toil

See also: TOIL

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English toilen, toylen, apparently a conflation of Anglo-Norman toiller (“to agitate, stir up, entangle”) (compare Old Northern French tooillier, tooullier (“to agitate, stir”); of unknown origin), and Middle English tilyen, 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 *tilōną (“to strive, reach for, aim for, hurry”). Cognate with Scots tulyie (“to quarrel, flite, contend”).

An alternate etymology derives Middle English toilen, toylen directly from Middle Dutch tuylen, teulen (“to work, labour, till”), from tuyl ("agriculture, labour, toil"; > Modern Dutch tuil (“toil; work”)). Cognate with Old Frisian teula (“to labour, toil”), teule (“labour, work”), Dutch tuil (“toil, labour”). Compare also Dutch telen (“to grow; raise; cultivate, till”). More at till.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /tɔɪl/, /ˈtɔɪəl/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔɪl, -ɔɪəl

Noun

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toil (countable and uncountable, plural toils)

  1. Labour, work, especially of a grueling nature.
    Synonyms: derve, drudgery, swink, sweat; see also Thesaurus:drudgery
    • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows:
      […] 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.
  2. Trouble, strife.
  3. (usually in the plural) A net or snare; any thread, web, or string spread for taking prey.
    • 1697, Virgil, translated by John Dryden, Georgics:
      Then toils for beasts, and lime for birds, were found.
    • 1823, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein:
      I was like a wild beast that had broken the toils, destroying the objects that obstructed me and ranging through the wood with a stag-like swiftness.
    • 1893, Stanley J. Weyman, “XIX. Men call it chance”, in A Gentleman of France:
      That I was going to sit still, and let you sulk, while mademoiselle walked blindfold into the toils?
    • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
      She had waited overlong, and now it was like that Ailie would escape her toils.

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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toil (third-person singular simple present toils, present participle toiling, simple past and past participle toiled)

  1. (intransitive) To labour; work.
  2. (intransitive) To struggle.
  3. (transitive) To work (something); often with out.
  4. (transitive) To weary through excessive labour.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Basque

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Noun

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toil

  1. conger eel

Irish

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Etymology

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From Old Irish tol (“will, desire”).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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toil f (genitive singular tola)

  1. will

Declension

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Declension of toil

Third declension

Bare forms (no plural for this noun):

Case Singular
Nominative toil
Vocative a thoil
Genitive tola
Dative toil

Forms with the definite article:

Case Singular
Nominative an toil
Genitive na tola
Dative leis an toil

don toil

Derived terms

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Mutation

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Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
toil thoil dtoil
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

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  1. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “tol”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
  2. ^ Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, § 179, page 90
  3. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 24, page 13

Further reading

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Old Irish

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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toil

  1. inflection of tol:
    1. accusative/dative singular
    2. nominative/vocative/accusative dual

Mutation

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Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
toil thoil toil
pronounced with /d(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Scottish Gaelic

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FWOTD – 5 February 2021

Etymology

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From Old Irish tol (“will, desire”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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toil f (genitive singular toile, plural toilean)

  1. will, desire, volition, inclination
  2. delight, pleasure

Derived terms

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Derived terms

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References

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  • Edward Dwelly (1911) “toil”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “tol”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
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