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Definition of toil noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

toil

noun
 
/tɔɪl/
 
/tɔɪl/
[uncountable] (formal or literary)
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  1. hard, unpleasant work that makes you very tired
    • a life of hardship and toil
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • back-breaking
    • grinding
    • hard
    phrases
    • hours, years, etc. of toil
    • sweat and toil
    See full entry
    see also toils
    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’.
See toil in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

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