▪ I. toil, n.1
(tɔɪl)
Forms: 4–7 toyle, toile, (7 toiel), 7–8 toyl, 6– toil; see also the Sc. form tuilyie.
[a. AF. toil, toyl dispute, contention, forensic strife = OF. tooil toeil, toel, touil, tueil bloody mêlée, trouble, confusion, etc. (12th c. in Godef.), f. tooillier, etc.: see toil v.1]
1. † Verbal contention, dispute, controversy, argument (obs.); also, battle, strife, mêlée, turmoil (arch. or merged in 2).
(Quot. a 1450 may possibly belong to toil n.2 3, but its date is in favour of this sense.)
| [1292 Britton i. xxvii. §6 Si soit le toyl entre eux et le viscounte. Ibid. ii. xi. §21. c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 147 Entre pledoures sourd le toyl [gloss strif].] 13.. K. Alis. 2212 (Bodl. MS.) Gret & dedly was þe prees, Among þe toyle Hardapilon On of Alisaunders fon Seiȝ theoloman Alisaunders stiwarde Bryngen darryes folk dounwarde. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 1802 The bolde..Tittez tirauntez doune, and temez theire sadilles, And turnez owte of þe toile, whene hym tyme thynkkez. c 1400 Destr. Troy 6958 Toax þat tyme þurght the toile rode:..And myche wo with his weppon wroght at þe tyme. [c 1425–: see tuilyie.] a 1450 Bone Flor. 1938 He was so tuggelde in a toyle. 1715 Pope Iliad i. 351 With these of old to toils of battle bred, In early youth my hardy days I led. 1746 Francis tr. Horace, Epist. ii. ii. 141 Like Gladiators, who with bloodless Toils Prolong the Combat, and engage with Foils. 1825 Longfellow Burial of Minnisink v, The weapons, made For the hard toils of war. |
| fig. 1642 Rogers Naaman 136 Hence it is, that selfe hath so continuall a toile to hold correspondence with grace. |
2. With a and pl. A struggle, a ‘fight’ (with difficulties); hence, a spell of severe bodily or mental labour; a laborious task or operation.
| 1576 Gascoigne Steele Gl. (Arb.) 74 Since al their toyles, and all their broken sleeps Shal scant suffize, to hold it stil vpright. 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 215 To till it is a toyle. 1603 Breton Dial. Pithe & Pleas. (Grosart) 7/1, I doo not loue so to make a toyle of a pleasure. 1735 Somerville Chase iv. 241 The Hunter-Horse, Once kind Associate of his sylvan Toils. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds ix. 115 The toils of the day were done. 1855 Kingsley Heroes ii. iv. (1868) 127 Many a toil must we bear ere we find it, and bring it home to Greece. |
3. a. Without a or pl. Severe labour; hard and continuous work or exertion which taxes the bodily or mental powers.
| 1594 W. Har[bert] Epicedium 1 You that to shew your wits, have taken toyle. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 24 Thou Founder of the Plough and Ploughman's Toyl. 1750 Gray Elegy 29 Let not Ambition mock their useful toil. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 81 The toil of man is irksome to him, and he earns his subsistance with pain. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 215 On the steeper slopes especially the toil was great. 1884 A. M. Fairbairn in Congregationalist Apr. 276 You are many of you accustomed to toil manual; I a man accustomed to toil mental. |
b. transf. The result of toil; that which is produced or accomplished by toil.
| 1713 Addison Cato iv. iv. 103 How is the toil of fate, the work of ages, The Roman Empire fallen! |
4. attrib. and Comb., as toil-assuaging, toil-beaten, toil-bent, toil-bowed, toil-hardened, toil-oppressed, toil-stained, toil-stricken, toil-won adjs.; toil-drop, a drop of sweat caused by toil. See also toil-worn.
| 1726 Pope Odyss. xx. 452 This poor, tim'rous, toil-detesting drone. 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 1223 The toil-strung youth, By the quick sense of musick taught alone. 1748 ― Cast. Indol. ii. xxiii, The best and sweetest far, are toil-created gains. 1760 Fawkes tr. Sappho, Epigr. i. 2 The toil-experienc'd Fisher, Pelagon. 1781 Cowper Conversat. 732 The scenes of toil-renewing light. 1786 Burns Lament viii, My toil-beat nerves, and tear-worn eye. 1791 Cowper Odyss. vii. 410 Ulysses toil-inured his words Exulting heard. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. ii. xviii, Till the toil-drops fell from his brows, like rain. 1839 Carlyle Chartism x. 176 The toilwon conquest of his own brothers. 1847 M. Howitt Ballads, etc. 316 Toil-stricken, though so young. 1890 Kipling Poems 1886–1929 (1929) iii. 289 They strove to stand to attention, to straighten the toil-bowed back. 1907 G. Parker Weavers ix, The slave and the toil-ridden fellah. |
▪ II. toil, n.2
(tɔɪl)
Forms: 6 toyll(e, (tull, tole), 6–7 toyle, 6–8 toyl, toile, 6– toil.
[a. OF. teile, toile (11th c. in Godef. Compl.), mod.F. toile cloth, web, etc.:—L. tēla web; F. pl. toiles ‘large pieces of cloth bordered with thick ropes, stretched round an enclosure, for the purpose of capturing wild beasts; also, large nets stretched to take stags and other deer’ (Littré).]
1. A net or nets set so as to enclose a space into which the quarry is driven, or within which the game is known to be. In later use usually pl.
| sing. a 1529 Skelton How the douty Dk. of Albany 269 About hym a parke Of a madde warke, Men call it a toyle. 1530 Palsgr. 281/2 Toyll for a prince to hunt with, toille. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1120/2 A generall hunting with a toile raised of foure or fiue miles in length, so that manie a deere that day was brought to the quarrie. a 1667 Cowley Agric. Wks. 1710 II. 722 He drives into a Toil the foaming Boar. 1827 D. Johnson Ind. Field Sports 18 The sudden jerk occasioned by an animal rushing at speed against the toil. |
| pl. 1530 Palsgr. 711/2, I sette, as a hunter setteth his hayes, or his toylles, or any other thinges to take wylde beestes with. 1554 in Kempe Losely MSS. (1836) 97 Yt hathe pleased the Quenes matie..to take yo{supr} Accompt for the Revelles, Tentes, and Toyles. 1611 Cotgr., Toiles, toyles; or a Hay to inclose, or intangle, wild beasts in. 1707 Lond. Gaz. No. 4358/3 The Toiles are already set round a large Lake. 1726 Arbuthnot It cannot rain but it pours Swift's Wks. 1755 III. i. 132 The wonderful Wild Man that was nursed in the woods of Germany by a wild beast, hunted and taken in toyls. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos I. xxv. 200 His men-at-arms may come and catch me like a fox in the toils. |
† 2. A trap or snare for wild beasts. Obs. rare.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 574 The manner of taking of Wolfs..an Iron toil which they still fasten in the earth with Iron pins. a 1629 Hinde J. Bruen x. (1641) 34 It is lawfull..to set Toyles for Foxes. 1727 Gay Fables i. xxi. 21 Again he sets the poison'd toils. |
3. fig. or in fig. context (sing. and pl.).
| sing. a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 56 Let vs not feare to enter in to the toyle where we may suerly sley hym. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 351 As she would catch another Anthony In her strong toyle of Grace. 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 453 Extol not Riches then, the toyl of Fools. 1718 Rowe tr. Lucan i. 168 Who hope to share the spoil, And hold the World within on common toil. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 258 The spider's..next care is to seize and secure whatever insect happens to be caught in the toil. |
| pl. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxlii. i, Lord, thou..knowst each path where stick the toyls of danger. 1648 Herrick Hesper., Disswasions fr. Idlenesse, Armes and hands..Are but toiles or manicles. a 1704 T. Brown On Beauties Wks. 1730 I. 42 Each fair enchanter sets Toyles for my heart. 1738 Wesley Ps. lvii. iii, While in the Toils of Hell I lie. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii. xxviii, Themselves in bloody toils were snared. 1897 B. Stoker Dracula iv. 41, I am surely in the toils... In the present state of things it would be madness to quarrel openly with the Count whilst I am so absolutely in his power. 1931 V. Sackville-West All Passion Spent i. 69 Their mother quietly disentangling herself from their toils. 1958 E. Birney Turvey v. 46 Soldiers in the toils of civilian law for thefts, burglaries, assaults, rapes and the odd murder. 1973 J. G. Farrell Siege of Krishnapur vi. 91 How hopelessly Prejudice, on the point of throwing a net over Truth, had become enmeshed in its own toils. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as † toil-house, a building in which toils and other hunting equipments were housed; so † toil-yard.
| 1558 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 48 One greate house called the Toyle house..with a Toyle yerde. |
▪ III. toil, v.1
(tɔɪl)
Forms: 4–7 toyle, 5–7 toile, 7 toyl (toiel), 7– toil. See also toly v. and Sc. tuilyie v.
[a. AF. toiler to strive, dispute, wrangle = OF. toeillier, tooillier, toillier, touellier, mod.F. touillier (12th c. in Godef.), ‘salir, souillier’, to soil, stir up, agitate, in mod.F. dial. to mix, stir up; ‘filthily to mix or mingle,..shuffle together, to intangle, trouble, or pester by scuruie medling; also, to bedurt, begrime, besmeare, etc.’ (Cotgr. 1611); according to Hatz.-Darm.:—L. tudiculāre to stir, stir about, f. tudicula a machine for bruising olives. The development of sense was app. ‘to stir up, make a stir or agitation, struggle, wrangle’.]
I. † 1. intr. To contend in a lawsuit or an argument; to dispute, argue; also, to contend in battle; to fight, struggle. Obs.
| [1292 Britton v. x. §11 En ceo cas quant plusours heirs toillent entour heritage [etc.].] c 1330 [see toiling vbl. n.]. [c 1350 Nominale Gall.-Angl. (E.E.T.S.), Homme plede et toile pur glebe, M. motith and striuyth for rit of kyrke.] c 1380 Anticrist in Todd Three Treat. Wyclif (1851) 150 Crist wiþhelde no men of lawe ne pleders at þe barr for robes & fees..to toyle for worldly cause. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 6957 When Paris hadde with him thus toyled, Off his Armes he him dispoyled. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10160 The Troiens wiþ tene toiled full hard, Wiþ a Rumour full roide & a roght hate. |
† 2. trans. To pull, drag, tug about. Obs.
| c 1325 Body & Soul 383 in Map's Poems (Camden) 344 Hit was in a deolful pleyt, Reuthliche i-toyled to and fro. c 1394 [see toiling vbl. n.]. a 1400 Leg. Rood (1871) 143 Þe dispitous Iewes nolde not spare Til trie fruit weore tore and toyled. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 54 As Saynt Anton lay in a den in wildernes, a grete multitude of fendis come vnto hym and rafe hym, & toylid hym. |
II. 3. intr. To struggle for some object or for a living; to engage in severe and continuous labour or exertion; to labour arduously. Often in the collocation toil and moil: see moil v. 3.
| c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 742 Y miȝt tymen þo troiflardes to toilen wiþ þe erþe, Tylyen & trewliche lyven. c 1400 Langland's P. Pl. A. xi. 183 (MS. T.) And alle kyne crafty men..toille for here foode. 1530 Palsgr. 758/2, I toyle, I stryve to gette my lyvyng, je me estriue... I toyle, I laboure, je me trauaille. 1548 Forrest Pleas. Poesye 57 The Pooreman to toyle for twoe pense the Daye. 1580, etc. [see moil v. 3]. 1611 Bible Luke v. 5 Wee haue toyled all the night. Ibid. xii. 27 They toile not; they spinne not. 1654 Gataker Disc. Apol. 17 For worldlie wealth, men can toil and moil all the week long. 1729 Law Serious C. iv. (1732) 53 If he labours and toils, not to serve any reasonable ends of life. 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike ix. 101 Thirteen thousand workpeople—who toil for twopence halfpenny a day. 1909 R. Nicoll in Mem. H. Bonar 103 He toiled on till he was past eighty. |
b. fig. To struggle mentally.
| 1788 V. Knox Winter Even. I. ii. 22 Language toils in vain for expressions. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. xxxi, Anna Comnena deeply toiled in spirit for the discovery of some means by which she might assert her sullied dignity. |
c. intr. With adverbial extension: To move or advance toilsomely or with struggling and labour.
| 1781 Cowper Truth 457 The Soul reposing on assured relief..Forgets her labour as she toils along. 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 296 Trusting to his overtaking the barges as they toiled up against the stream. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 163 The road was deep in mire{ddd}the women and children weeping, famished, and toiling through the mud up to their knees. Mod. Toiling up the steep. |
4. trans. To bring into some condition or position, or to procure, by toil; toil out, to accomplish or effect by toil. Also with cognate obj. rare.
| 1667 Milton P.L. x. 475, I Toild out my uncouth passage. 1796 Coleridge Introd. to Sonn. Poems 1877 I. 131 When, at last, the thing is toiled and hammered into fit shape. 1817 ― Biog. Lit. ix. I. 148 In Schelling..I first found a genial coincidence with much that I had toiled out for myself. 1823 Praed Troubadour i. 487 ‘Toil yet another toil’, quoth he. |
5. To subject to toil, cause to work hard; to weary, tire, fatigue, esp. with work. toil out, to tire out or exhaust with toil. arch. and dial.
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Jas. 36 You are vexed in your mynde, and..toyled with sondrye tumultes of cares. 1596 Danett tr. Comines (1614) 328 The poore man that trauelleth and toileth his body to get foode. 1607 Markham Caval. iv. (1617) 16 The very toyling him vpon the deep lands, will bring him to a weaknesse in his limbs. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. 55 The army was toiled out with cruell tempests. 1760 Dodd Hymn to Gd. Nat. Poems (1767) 6 Steeds much toil'd, ill fed. 1825 Scott Talism. xvi, Physicians had to toil their wits to invent names for imaginary maladies. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. ix, A man so tossed and toiled for twenty-four hours and more. |
† b. refl. Obs.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xi. (1592) 160 [For] the diuine Prouidence..to toyle it selfe in the cark and care of so many particular things. 1596 Danett tr. Comines (1614) 220 What needed he thus to haue toiled himselfe? a 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. vi. 343 Let Men toyl themselves till their Brains be fired,..they will toyl in vain. |
† 6. trans. To labour upon; to work at; esp. to till (the earth, ground, or soil).
| 1552 Huloet, Toyle or labour the earth, solicito. 1614 W. B. Philosopher's Banquet (ed. 2) A ij, Like Alchemists toyling the Stone. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 151 The Mules..are vsed to toile the earth. |
III. † 7. trans. Cookery. To stir, mix by stirring. Obs.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 24 Toyle hem with Flowre, an frye hem. Ibid. 54 Toyle yt with þin hond al þes togederys. c 1550 Lacy Wyl Bucke's Test. (Halliw.) 59 Sete him [the chine] on the fire, and toyle him with a pot staffe tyl he sethe for quailing and then he shal be browne of his owne kinde. |
▪ IV. toil, v.2
(tɔɪl)
[f. toil n.2]
trans. To trap or enclose in a toil; to drive (game) into a toil; also fig. to entrap, entangle; dial. to set (a trap); cf. till v.1 7.
| 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. viii. xli. (1612) 199 And hath he toyled vp his game? 1621 H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) App. 139 Seeing these poore mene toyled in this maze of affliccions. 1887 T. Hardy Woodlanders xlvii, He laid the trap,..set it, or to use the local and better word ‘toiled’ it. |
Hence toiled ppl. a., netted, trapped, snared.
| 1852 Jerdan Autobiog. II. 16 The toiled bird had been liberated from its cage. 1854 S. Dobell Balder xxiii. 85 Lying close like a toiled bird that with wide eyes Is mute and strange. Ibid. xxxvii. 186 Bind him down With the strong bonds of love..Naked and toiled. |