I. ˈtōl noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English toll, tol, from Old English toll; akin to Old Frisian tolen, tolene toll, Old Saxon tolna, Old High German zol, Old Norse tollr; all from a prehistoric West Germanic-North Germanic word borrowed from (assumed) Vulgar Latin tolonium, alteration of Late Latin telonium customhouse, from Greek telōnion, from telōnēs collector of tolls or taxes, from telos tax, tribute; akin to Greek tlēnai to bear — more at tolerate
1. : a tax or fee paid for some liberty or privilege (as of passing over a highway or bridge or using a ferry, of keeping a booth or vending goods in a fair or market, or of importing or exporting goods)
higher bridge and tunnel tolls — Better Homes & Gardens
2.
a. : the right to take toll
b. : the former right of an English lord to levy a tallage or tax upon his villeins
3. : a compensation taken for services rendered: as
a. dialect : a portion of grain taken by a miller as his fee
b. : a charge for transportation, conveyance, or use of facilities (as of a port)
c. : a charge for a long-distance telephone call
4. : the cost in loss or suffering at which something is achieved : damage done : exaction
the flood took a heavy toll — American Guide Series: Ind.
the large emotional toll which expatriation usually exacts — Aline B. Saarinen
defense takes an enormous toll of money and manpower — Denis Healey
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English tollen, from tol, toll, n.
intransitive verb
1. : to take or levy toll
2. obsolete : to enter a horse in the tollbook of a market as for sale — used with for
transitive verb
1.
a. : to exact part of as a toll or duty
tolled his tenant's crops
b. : to take (something) as toll
2. : to exact a toll from (someone) : impose a levy on
III. verb
or tole “
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English tollen, tolen; akin to Middle English tullen, tillen to attract, entice — more at till
transitive verb
1. : to lure along : attract , entice
I'll shoot the man that tolls her off … a girl what's been learned to work and mind — Emmett Gowen
wild mares on the ranges … had tolled off 300 head of horses and mules from his 1500 guarded animals — J.F.Dobie
the coal-oil lantern … would surely toll any murdering redskins within miles — Mari Sandoz
2. : to lure (game) in any of various ways : decoy
they saw several loons and tolled them by running towards them hallooing and waving a handkerchief, at which sight and cry the loon immediately swam towards them, until within 20 yards — J.J.Audubon
3. : to scatter (bait) for attracting fish : chum
4. : to lead or draw (domestic animals) in a desired direction (as by means of a bellwether or a lure)
she had tolled the young turkeys into the yard — Mary King
tolled the sheep into the barn — E.B.White
intransitive verb
: to respond to tolling : admit of being tolled
these ducks toll the most readily of all
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English tollen, perhaps from tollen to attract, entice
transitive verb
1.
a. : to give signal or announcement of : sound
the clock tolls the hour
the curfew tolls the knell of parting day — Thomas Gray
b. : to ring a toll for : announce by tolling
tolled the president's death
c. : to call (someone) to or from a place or occasion
forlorn! the very word is like a bell to toll me back from thee to my sole self — John Keats
2. : to cause the sounding of (a bell) in a controlled and regular manner by pulling a rope, striking with a hammer, or manipulating the clapper usually to announce a church service or other public occasion or a death or funeral or to give an alarm — compare peal
intransitive verb
1. : to sound with slow measured strokes
never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee — John Donne
2. : to cause a bell to toll
V. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from tollen, v.
1.
a. : an act or instance of tolling
b. : a single stroke on a bell
2. : the sound made by a toll
VI. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English tollen, from Anglo-French toller, touller, from Latin tollere to lift up, take away — more at tolerate
: to take away : make null : remove
toll the statute of limitations