From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtoiltoil1 /tɔɪl/ verb [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] 1 (also toil away)WORK HARD to work very hard for a long period of timetoil at I’ve been toiling away at this essay all weekend.2 literaryMOVE/CHANGE POSITION to move slowly and with great efforttoil up/through/along etc They toiled slowly up the hill.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
toil• The workers and peasants toil and sweat to service debts owed to the international bankers and multilateral agencies.• For a year, birthday preparation committees throughout the nation have toiled for this moment.• Men. women and children spent long hours toiling in the fields, whatever the weather conditions.• For eight years, he toiled in the House minority party.• Today less than thirty thousand workers toil in those same coal mines.• My immigrant parents toiled night and day to make a living.• This was a process in which I had never engaged back in the bad old days when I toiled on a typewriter.• Roger and his wife toiled round the clock for seven years to make a success of their business.toil up/through/along etc• After that I could never see the point of toiling up a steep incline in preference to riding comfortably on a ski-lift!• There they would line Hollins Hill as the walkers toiled up and cheer them on their way.• In other words, three generations might take a family from hard toil through private education to gilt-edged respectability.• Against their huge bulk, the pilgrims and mule toiling up the almost invisible pathways are tiny and humbled.• She toiled up the stairs, and saw that a light showed on the landing above.• He went past the dustbins and began toiling up the stairs.• Hauling five-gallon buckets of water and toiling up to five hours in the sun required the strength and stamina of a linebacker.toiltoil2 noun [uncountable] formal 1 WORK THAT somebody DOEShard unpleasant work done over a long period a life of toil2 → the toils of somethingExamples from the Corpus
toil• Mortal pain and toil have yielded before the promise of redemption in Revelations.• From now on Adam's work is to be sweat and toil.• There was no time for the arduous toil required to master a foreign language.• Here began their arduous toil to force a living from the land.• These, although mortal, lived like gods without sorrow of heart, far from toil and pain.• Working copy: not likely to withstand further toil.• After four carefree years, one enters the Company, where the daily round of obedient toil begins again.• man's desire for freedom from physical toil• Such toil could easily be made unnecessary if a little social effort and investment could be applied.• Man is made to relieve the gods of the toil of keeping the earth in order.Origin toil1 (1200-1300) Anglo-French toiller, from Old French toeillier “to disturb, argue”, from Latin tudiculare “to crush”, from tudicula “machine for crushing olives”, from tudes “hammer” toil2 1. (1300-1400) Anglo-French toyl, from Old French toeil “battle, confusion”, from toeillier; → TOIL12. (1500-1600) toil “net” ((16-19 centuries)), from French toile; → TOILET 