I. toil 1 /tɔɪl/ BrE AmE verb [intransitive always + adverb/preposition]
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Anglo-French ; Origin: toiller , from Old French toeillier 'to disturb, argue' , from Latin tudiculare 'to crush' , from tudicula 'machine for crushing olives' , from tudes 'hammer' ]
1 . ( also toil away ) to work very hard for a long period of time
toil at
I’ve been toiling away at this essay all weekend.
2 . literary to move slowly and with great effort
toil up/through/along etc
They toiled slowly up the hill.
II. toil 2 BrE AmE noun [uncountable] formal
[ Sense 1: Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Anglo-French ; Origin: toyl , from Old French toeil 'battle, confusion' , from toeillier ; ⇨ ↑ toil 1 ]
[ Sense 2: Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: toil 'net' (16-19 centuries) , from French toile ; ⇨ ↑ toilet ]
1 . hard unpleasant work done over a long period:
a life of toil
2 . the toils of something literary if you are caught in the toils of an unpleasant feeling or situation, you are trapped by it