Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To go from one place to another, as on a trip; journey.
  • intransitive verb To go from place to place as a salesperson or agent.
  • intransitive verb To move or pass, as from one person to another.
  • intransitive verb To be transmitted, as light or sound.
  • intransitive verb To move along a course, as a phonograph needle in the groove of a record.
  • intransitive verb Informal To move swiftly.
  • intransitive verb To go about in the company of a particular group; associate.
  • intransitive verb To admit of being transported without loss of quality;
  • intransitive verb Basketball To move illegally while holding the ball, usually by taking more than two steps between dribbles or by moving a foot that has been established as a pivot.
  • intransitive verb To pass or journey over or through; traverse.
  • noun The act or process of traveling from one place to another.
  • noun A series of journeys.
  • noun An account of one's journeys.
  • noun The activity or business of arranging trips or providing services for travelers.
  • noun Movement or passage.
  • noun The motion of a piece of machinery, especially of a reciprocating part; stroke.
  • noun The length of a mechanical stroke.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Labor; toil; effort.
  • noun The act of traveling or journeying; particularly, a journeying to distant countries: as, he is much improved by travel; he started on his travels.
  • noun plural An account of occurrences and observations made during a journey; a book that relates one's experiences in traveling: as, travels in Italy: formerly in the singular.
  • noun Progress; going; movement.
  • noun In mech., the length of stroke of any moving part: as, the travel of the bed of a. planer: the travel of a pendulum. Also called excursion.
  • noun The passage or concourse of travelers; persons traveling: as, the travel was very heavy on outgoing trains and boats.
  • noun Labor in childbirth. See travail, 2.
  • noun Synonyms Voyage, Tour, etc. See journey.
  • To labor; toil.
  • To pass or make a journey from place to place, whether on foot, on horseback, or in any conveyance, as a carriage or a ship; go to or visit distant or foreign places; journey: as, to travel for health or for pleasure.
  • Specifically, to make a journey or go about from place to place for the purpose of taking orders for goods, collecting accounts, etc., for a commercial house.
  • In mech., to traverse; move over a fixed distance, as a movable part of a machine. See travel, n., 5.
  • To proceed or advance in any way; pass from onė point to another; move; wander: as, his eye traveled over the landscape; also, to move at a specified gait, pace, or rate: as, that horse travels wide.
  • To walk.
  • To move onward in feeding; browse from one point to another: said of deer, etc.
  • To harass; trouble; plague; torment.
  • To journey through; pass over; make the tour of: as, to travel the whole kingdom of England.
  • To cause or force to journey, or move from plaee to place.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb obsolescent To labor; to travail.
  • intransitive verb To go or march on foot; to walk.
  • intransitive verb To pass by riding, or in any manner, to a distant place, or to many places; to journey
  • intransitive verb To pass; to go; to move.
  • transitive verb To journey over; to traverse.
  • transitive verb rare To force to journey.
  • noun The act of traveling, or journeying from place to place; a journey.
  • noun An account, by a traveler, of occurrences and observations during a journey; ; -- often used as the title of a book.
  • noun (Mach.) The length of stroke of a reciprocating piece.
  • noun obsolete Labor; parturition; travail.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive To be on a journey, often for pleasure or business and with luggage; to go from one place to another.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English travelen, alteration of travailen, to toil, from Old French travailler; see travail.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English travelen ("to make a laborious journey, travel") from Middle Scots travailen "to toil, work, travel", alteration of Middle English travaillen ("to toil, work"), from Old French travailler "to trouble, suffer, be worn out". See travail. Displaced native Middle English faren ("to travel, fare") (from Old English faran ("to travel, journey")), Middle English lithen ("to go, travel") (from Old English līþan ("to go, travel")), Middle English feren ("to go, travel") (from Old English fēran ("to go, travel")), Middle English ȝewalken, iwalken ("to walk about, travel") (from Old English ġewealcan ("to go, traverse")), Middle English swinken ("to work, travel") (from Old English swincan ("to labour, work at")). More at fare.

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Examples

  • "To serve their senses that travel by it, or have no garden," interrupted Arthur, reading from the book, "and, oh, Mary! that reminds me -- _travel -- travellers.

    Mary's Meadow And Other Tales of Fields and Flowers Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing 1863

  • From white water rafting to cenote-diving, one of the hottest trends in travel is nature-based tourism, and many guidebooks respond by including extensive descriptions of flamingo tours, canyon cruises and sea-turtle habitats.

    Mexico By the Book 1999

  • From white water rafting to cenote-diving, one of the hottest trends in travel is nature-based tourism, and many guidebooks respond by including extensive descriptions of flamingo tours, canyon cruises and sea-turtle habitats.

    Mexico By the Book 1999

  • To inspect as good as exam a travel is a unequivocally critical component in following a spirit.

    Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009

  • To inspect as good as exam a travel is a unequivocally critical component in following a spirit.

    THE DANGERS OF SPIRITUAL LIFE-By Watchman Nee A Fair Mitre admin 2009

  • I think I will make a note that the one place I do not wish to travel is to Florida.

    Think Progress » Florida Lawmaker Attempts To Deny Tax Credit To Movies Filmed With Gay Characters 2010

  • Norwegian Cruise Line is offering what it calls travel protection, starting at $29 per person, that will provide a cash reimbursement of cancellation fees to guests who cancel because they lose their job.

    Travel Spending Sinks Sharply 2009

  • BLITZER: Some JetBlue passengers are furious over what they describe as a travel nightmare.

    CNN Transcript Feb 14, 2007 2007

  • To do our job right we think this travel is a necessity so that we can better understand local customs, accounting differences, and trading differences between countries.

    Investment Forum—1996 1996

  • The word "travel," after all, comes from the Old French travaillier - to labor, or suffer - and drivers were happy to trade the longueurs of the road for something fast, safe and predictable.

    NYT > Home Page By TOM VANDERBILT 2011

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