Main Entry: ²toil

Function: verb

Etymology: Middle English, to argue, struggle, from Anglo-French toiller to make dirty, fight, wrangle, from Latin tudiculare to crush, grind, from tudicula machine for crushing olives, diminutive of tudes hammer; akin to Latin tundere to beat — more at contusion

Date: 14th century

intransitive verb 1 : to work hard and long
2 : to proceed with laborious effort : plodtransitive verb 1 archaic : overwork
2 archaic : to get or accomplish with great effort

— toil·er \ˈtȯi-lər\ noun