Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Work, especially when arduous or involving painful effort; toil. See Synonyms at work.
- n. Tribulation or agony; anguish.
- n. The labor of childbirth.
- v. To work strenuously; toil.
- v. To be in the labor of childbirth.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Labor; toil; travel: same as travel, 1.
- n. Labor in childbed; parturition.
- To labor; toil; travel: same as travel, 1.
- To labor in childbed; suffer the pangs of childbirth; be parturient.
- n. A means of transportation, commonly used by North American Indians and voyageurs of the north and northwest, for the conveyance of goods or of sick or wounded persons. It consists of a rude litter made of two lodge-poles about 16 feet long, having one end of each pole attached on each side to a pack-saddle, the other end trailing on the ground. A kind of sack or bag is then made by lashing canvas or lodge-skins to the cross-bars, for the reception of the goods or the sick or wounded person. Also called travois, travee.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Labor with pain; severe toil or exertion.
- n. Parturition; labor.
- n. Same as travois.
- v. Archaic To labor with pain; to toil.
- v. To suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.
- v. obsolete To harass; to tire.
WordNet 3.0
- n. concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
- n. use of physical or mental energy; hard work
- v. work hard
Etymologies
- From Old French travail ("suffering, torment"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from travailler, to work hard, from Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre, to torture with a tripalium, from Late Latin tripālium, instrument of torture, probably from Latin tripālis, having three stakes : tri-, tri- + pālus, stake; see pag- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And if thou beest _in travail_, and punishest thy body reasonably and wisely, by wakings, fastings, and in prayers and meditations, and sufferest heat and cold, hunger and thirst, privation and anguish for the love of JESUS Christ; for this travail thou shalt come to rest that lasts aye, and sit on a settle of joy with angels.”
“The word travel, you'll recall, is derived from the word travail, which itself is derived from a word for an instrument of torture.”
“It is an allusion to a woman in travail, that is pained to be delivered, and welcomes her pains, because they hasten the birth of the child, and wishes them sharp and strong, that the work may be cut short.”
“The great travail is over, my friends, and I am back on top of my game.”
“So he said to himself, By Allah, all my travail is lost!”
“Each morn that dawns I wake in travail and in woe,”
“Chaldees, when they come on thee suddenly, as pangs on a woman in travail (Jer 6: 24)!”
“Thus he illustrates by a similitude taken from a woman in travail, to whose sorrows he compares those of his disciples, for their encouragement; for it is the will of Christ that his people should be a comforted people.”
“Present receivings and comforts are consistent with a great many groans; not as the pangs of one dying, but as the throes of a woman in travail -- groans that are symptoms of life, not of death.”
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation)
“Rachel had her heart much set upon children: the son she died in travail of she called”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘travail’.
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GRE Barron's 800
abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abject, abjure, abscission, abscond, abstemious, abstinence, abysmal, accretion and 787 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
Laban, circumcise, beget, Esau, Rebekah, speckle, Sodom, Pharaoh, Canaanite, Canaan, Jacob, Lot and 1286 more...
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EN-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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NTDW2
yawp, amidships, smug, jounce, fallow, conscionable, polyp, whit, nouveau riche, palatial, encomiastic, exchequer and 182 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 505 more...
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Phonestheme: TR-, the Long Walk
Grateful credit to http://reocities.com/SoHo/Studios/9783/phond1.html.
trudge, trot, trek, tread, tramp, trample, track, trip, tromp, traverse, traipse, travail
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Aviator's supplement
anybody can add to this list which would help our goal to disperse more words...
raillery, scruples, conspicuous, concupiscent, ramshackled, exultant, innate, condescend, pariah, countenance, ply, vitiate and 6 more...
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fasten-ating
a reflection on the Indo-European root pag & pak to fasten
peace, pay, patio, fay, fang, impact, pax, newfangled, pagan, peasant, pectin, spinto and 58 more...
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ash vocab
flippant, fillip, expiate, explicate, extirpate, facile, florid, fealty, allegiance, fetid, febrile, pert and 134 more...
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Vocabulary Words
words to reference while writing something
cohesive, epitome, tempered, imply, prudent, sundry, sagest, agitation, giddy, disposition, inclination, gracious and 114 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for travail.
ruzuzu "2. To labor in childbed; suffer the pangs of childbirth; be parturient." --Cent. Dict. May 25, 2011