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’.Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
Check pronunciation:
toil