travail

Noun · Verb

Synonyms: parturiency labor labour confinement lying-in childbed effort elbow grease exertion sweat toil fag

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child“she was in labor for six hours”Synonyms: parturiency labor labour confinement lying-in childbed
use of physical or mental energy; hard work“he got an A for effort”“they managed only with great exertion”Synonyms: effort elbow grease exertion sweat

Verb (1)

work hard“She was digging away at her math homework”“Lexicographers drudge all day long”Synonyms: labor labour toil fag grind drudge dig moil

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Travail \Tra`vail"\, n. [Cf. F. travail, a frame for confining a horse, or OF. travail beam, and E. trave, n. Cf. Travail, v. i.] Same as Travois. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Travail \Trav"ail\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Travailed; p. pr. & vb. n. Travailing.] [F. travailler, OF. traveillier, travaillier, to labor, toil, torment; cf. Pr. trebalhar to torment, agitate. See Travail, n.]

1.To labor with pain; to toil. [Archaic] "Slothful persons which will not travail for their livings." --Latimer. [1913 Webster]

2.To suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor. [1913 Webster]

Travail \Trav"ail\, v. t. To harass; to tire. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

As if all these troubles had not been sufficient to travail the realm, a great division fell among the nobility. --Hayward. [1913 Webster]

Travail \Trav"ail\ (?; 48), n. [F. travail; cf. Pr. trabalh, trebalh, toil, torment, torture; probably from LL. trepalium a place where criminals are tortured, instrument of torture. But the French word may be akin to L. trabs a beam, or have been influenced by a derivative from trabs (cf. Trave). Cf. Travel.]

1.Labor with pain; severe toil or exertion. [1913 Webster]

As everything of price, so this doth require travail.— Hooker.[1913 Webster]

2.Parturition; labor; as, an easy travail. [1913 Webster]