Definitions for: Travail


[n] use of physical or mental energy; hard work; "he got an A for effort"; "they managed only with great exertion"
[n] concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of labor to the birth of a child; "she was in labor for six hours"
[v] work hard; "She was digging away at her math homework"; "Lexicographers drudge all day long"



Webster (1913) Definition: Tra`vail", n. [Cf. F. travail, a frame for confining a
horse, or OF. travail beam, and E. trave, n. Cf. Travail,
v. i.]
Same as Travois.


Trav"ail (?; 48), n. [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.] [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.
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.

Synonyms: childbed, confinement, dig, drudge, effort, elbow grease, exertion, fag, grind, labor, labor, labour, labour, lying-in, moil, parturiency, sweat, toil

See Also: application, asynclitism, birth, birthing, detrition, difficulty, diligence, do work, effacement, exercise, exercising, friction, gestation, giving birth, labor, labour, least effort, least resistance, obliquity, overexertion, overkill, parturition, physical exercise, physical exertion, pregnancy, premature labor, premature labour, pull, rubbing, strain, straining, struggle, supererogation, toil, trouble, uterine contraction, work, workout

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