Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor, suffering, hardship.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: literary
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: toil, tribulation, ordeal
Antonyms: ease, leisure
noun
Specifically, the labor of childbirth.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
An act of working; labor (US), labour (British).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The eclipse of a celestial object.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Obsolete form of travel.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Alternative form of travois (“a kind of sled”)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To toil.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To go through the labor of childbirth.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
use of physical or mental energy; hard work
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: effort, elbow grease, exertion, sweat
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: labor, labour, toil
Narrower terms: struggle, trouble, difficulty, least effort, least resistance, strain, straining, exercise, exercising, physical exercise, physical exertion, workout, pull, application, diligence, overkill, supererogation, overexertion, friction, detrition, rubbing
noun
concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: parturiency, labor, labour, confinement, lying-in, childbed
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: parturition, birth, giving birth, birthing
Narrower terms: premature labor, premature labour
verb
work hard
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: labor, labour, toil, fag, grind, drudge, dig, moil
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: work, do work
History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tréyes Proto-Indo-European *tri- Proto-Italic *tri- Latin tri- Latin pālus Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-ih2der.? Proto-Italic *-is Latin -is Latin tripālis Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ium ▲ Byzantine Greek τριπάσσαλον (tripássalon)calq.? Latin tripālium Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -āre Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre Old French travaillerdeverb. Old French travailbor. Middle English travail English travail Inherited from Middle English travail, borrowed from Old French travail (“suffering, torment”), deverbal from travailler, from Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre (“to torment”), from Latin tripālium (“torture device”) + -āre (verb-forming suffix). Doublet of travel and travois.
From Middle English travailen, from Old French travailler, from the noun (see above). Doublet of travel. Displaced native Middle English swinken (“to work”) (from Old English swincan (“to labour, to toil, to work at”)).
Across languages
24 source translations are retained for this English entry.
