toil
noun/tɔɪl/
/tɔɪl/
[uncountable] (formal or literary)- hard, unpleasant work that makes you very tired
- a life of hardship and toil
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjectivesee also toils- back-breaking
- grinding
- hard
- …
- hours, years, etc. of toil
- sweat and toil
Word OriginMiddle English (in the senses ‘contend verbally’ and ‘strife’): from Anglo-Norman French toiler ‘strive, dispute’, toil ‘confusion’, from Latin tudiculare ‘stir about’, from tudicula ‘machine for crushing olives’, related to tundere ‘crush’.Want to learn more?
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toil