Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Work, especially when arduous or involving painful effort; toil. synonym: work.
- noun Tribulation or agony; anguish.
- noun The labor of childbirth.
- intransitive verb To work strenuously; toil.
- intransitive verb To be in the labor of childbirth.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To labor; toil; travel: same as
travel , 1. - To labor in childbed; suffer the pangs of childbirth; be parturient.
- noun Labor; toil; travel: same as
travel , 1. - noun Labor in childbed; parturition.
- noun 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.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Same as
travois . - noun Labor with pain; severe toil or exertion.
- noun Parturition; labor.
- transitive verb obsolete To harass; to tire.
- intransitive verb Archaic To labor with pain; to toil.
- intransitive verb To suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Obsolete form of
travel . - verb To
toil . - verb To go through the
labor of childbirth.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
- noun use of physical or mental energy; hard work
- verb work hard
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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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 Form of Perfect Living and Other Prose Treatises Richard Rolle 1901
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The word travel, you'll recall, is derived from the word travail, which itself is derived from a word for an instrument of torture.
Forbes.com: News Wayne Curtis 2011
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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.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
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The great travail is over, my friends, and I am back on top of my game.
Archive 2008-10-01 Big Jim 2008
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The great travail is over, my friends, and I am back on top of my game.
The great reformation Big Jim 2008
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So he said to himself, By Allah, all my travail is lost!
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Each morn that dawns I wake in travail and in woe,
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Chaldees, when they come on thee suddenly, as pangs on a woman in travail (Jer 6: 24)!
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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.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
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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) 1721
ruzuzu commented on the word travail
"2. To labor in childbed; suffer the pangs of childbirth; be parturient." --Cent. Dict.
May 25, 2011