Wiktionary

toil

See also: TOIL

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

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

Noun edit

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.
    • 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 edit

Translations edit

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

Verb edit

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 edit

Translations edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Basque edit

Noun edit

toil

  1. conger eel

Irish edit

Etymology edit

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

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

toil f (genitive singular tola)

  1. will

Declension edit

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 edit

Mutation edit

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 edit

  1. ^ G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, 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, page 90
  3. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 13

Further reading edit

Old Irish edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

toil

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

Mutation edit

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 edit

FWOTD – 5 February 2021

Etymology edit

From Old Irish tol (“will, desire”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

toil f (genitive singular toile, plural toilean)

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

Derived terms edit

Derived terms edit

References edit

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