Today's Word "travail"
Painful or arduous work
on
Published in Vocabulary
travail \truh-VAYL; TRAV-ayl\ (noun) - 1 : Painful or arduous work; severe toil or exertion. 2 : Agony; anguish. 3 : The labor of childbirth
(intransitive verb) - 1 : To work very hard; to toil. 2 : To suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.
"But not for that dream I on this strange course,
But on this travail look for greater birth.
She dying -- as it must be so maintained --
Upon the instant that she was accused,
Shall be lamented, pitied, and excused" -- William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
Travail is from Old French traveillier, travaillier, from Vulgar Latin tripalium, "a three-staked instrument of torture," from Latin tripalis, "three-staked," from tri-, "three" + palus, "a stake."
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