Definition

1. Noun:

   • Hard, exhausting work: "Toil" refers to prolonged, strenuous, and often physically demanding labor or effort.
   • A difficult task: It can also denote a specific piece of work that is very arduous.

2. Verb:

   • To work extremely hard: The primary meaning is to engage in sustained, physically or mentally demanding work.
   • To move with great effort: It can also mean to proceed slowly and with difficulty.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • Years of toil in the fields had left his hands rough and calloused.
  • The project was a real toil, but the results were worth it.

• Verb:

  • Farmers toil from dawn until dusk during the harvest season.
  • The hikers toiled up the steep mountain path, their breath visible in the cold air.

Advanced Usage

• "The toils of...": This phrase refers to the burdens or hardships associated with a particular situation.

  • He was finally free from the toils of his previous job.

• "Toil and trouble": A classic phrase (famously from Shakespeare's Macbeth) emphasizing great effort and difficulty.

  • The creation of the report involved much toil and trouble.

Variants and Related Words

• Toiler (n): A person who toils; a hard worker.

  • The factory was filled with weary toilers.

• Toilsome (adj): Characterized by or involving toil; laborious.

  • It was a long and toilsome journey.

Synonyms

• Labor (n/v): Work, especially hard physical work.
• Drudgery (n): Hard, menial, or dull work.
• Grind (n): Hard, dull, or routine work (often used figuratively).

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Toil away: To work hard for a long period, often with a sense of being consumed by the work.
  • She toiled away in the laboratory for months on her research.

Related Idioms

• Toil in vain: To work hard without achieving the desired result.

  • All his efforts to repair the old engine were toil in vain.

• The fruit of one's toil: The rewards or results gained from hard work.

  • He enjoyed the fruit of his toil: a successful business and a comfortable life.

Noun

1. productive work (especially physical work done for wages)
   • his labor did not require a great deal of skill

Verb

1. work hard
   • She was digging away at her math homework
   • Lexicographers drudge all day long