TRAVAIL
effort, elbow grease, exertion, travail, sweat
(noun) use of physical or mental energy; hard work; “he got an A for effort”; “they managed only with great exertion”
parturiency, labor, labour, confinement, lying-in, travail, childbed
(noun) concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child; “she was in labor for six hours”
labor, labour, toil, fag, travail, grind, drudge, dig, moil
(verb) work hard; “She was digging away at her math homework”; “Lexicographers drudge all day long”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology 1
Noun
travail (plural travails or travaux)
(literary) Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor, suffering, hardship. [from 13th c.]
Specifically, the labor of childbirth. [from 13th c.]
(obsolete, countable) An act of working; labor (US), labour (British). [14th-18th c.]
(obsolete) The eclipse of a celestial object. [17th c.]
Obsolete form of travel.
Alternative form of travois (“a kind of sled”)
Etymology 2
Verb
travail (third-person singular simple present travails, present participle travailing, simple past and past participle travailed)
To toil.
To go through the labor of childbirth.
Source: Wiktionary
Trav"ail (; 48), n. Etym: [F. travail; cf. Pr. trabalh, trebalh, toil, torment, torture; probably from LL. trepalium a place where criminals are tortured, instrument of torture. But the French word may be akin to L. trabs a beam, or have been influenced by a derivative from trabs (cf. Trave). Cf. Travel.]
1. Labor with pain; severe toil or exertion. As everything of price, so this doth require travail. Hooker.
2. Parturition; labor; as, an easy travail.
Trav"ail, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Travailed; p. pr. & vb. n. Travailing.] Etym: [F. travailler, OF. traveillier, travaillier, to labor, toil, torment; cf. Pr. trebalhar to torment, agitate. See Travail, n.]
1. To labor with pain; to toil. [Archaic] "Slothful persons which will not travail for their livings." Latimer.
2. To suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.
Trav"ail, v. t
Definition: To harass; to tire. [Obs.] As if all these troubles had not been sufficient to travail the realm, a great division fell among the nobility. Hayward.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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Word of the Day
22 April 2025
BRIGHT
(adjective) made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing; reflecting a sheen or glow; “bright silver candlesticks”; “a burnished brass knocker”; “she brushed her hair until it fell in lustrous auburn waves”; “rows of shining glasses”; “shiny black patents”
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