Travail

English

Noun

Travail (plural travails or travaux)

1. (archaic) Work, especially when arduous or painful; excessive labor, suffering.
   • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber 2007, p. 38:

     He had thought of making a destiny for himself, through laborious and untiring travail.

2. Specifically, the labor of childbirth.
3. (obsolete, countable) An act of working; labor (US), labour (British).
4. (obsolete) The eclipse of a celestial object.
5. Obsolete form of travel.

Verb

Travail (third-person singular simple present Travails, present participle Travailing, simple past and past participle Travailed)

1. To toil.
2. To go through the labor of childbirth.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, John XIV:

     A woman when she traveyleth hath sorowe, be cause her houre is come: but as sone as she is delivered off her chylde she remembreth no moare her anguysshe, for ioye that a man is borne in to the worlde.

Thesaurus

accouchement, be confined, bear, bear a child, bear young, birth, birth throes, birthing, blessed event, calve, cast, childbearing, childbed, childbirth, confinement, delivery, dig, dirty work, donkeywork, drop, drudge, drudgery, employment, fag, farrow, fatigue, fawn, foal, genesis, give birth, giving birth, grind, grub, hammer, hammer away, handiwork, handwork, hatching, have, have a baby, have young, having a baby, industry, kitten, labor, lamb, lick, lick of work, lie in, litter, manual labor, moil, multiparity, nascency, nativity, pains, parturition, peg, peg away, plod, plug, plug along, plug away, plugging, pound away, pup, rat race, scut work, slavery, slog, spadework, stroke, stroke of work, struggle, sweat, task, the Nativity, the stork, throw, tiresome work, toil, treadmill, wade through, whelp, work, work away, yean

Etymology

From Old French travail (“suffering, torment”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: trəˈvāl, IPA: /tɹəˈveɪl/, SAMPA: /tr@"veIl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl

Translations

Noun

to be checked

Old Armenian: երկն (erkn) Armenian: երկունք (hy) (erkunk’)

Dutch: 1.hard labeur , 2.werkarbeid,3.barensweeën, 4. beproeving, smart,zielskwelling

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989

Verb

• Dutch: 1. Hard zwoegen , slaven, 2.in barensnood verkeren

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Anglo-Norman

Noun

Travail m. (oblique plural travaus, nominative singular travaus, nominative plural travail)

1. suffering, torment

Synonyms

• doel
• paine
• enui
• dulor

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French

Noun

Travail m. (plural travaux)

1. work; labor
2. job

Etymology

Old French travail from Latin tripalium

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʁa.vaj/ X-SAMPA: /tRa.vaj/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  noicon

  (file)

• Audio (Paris)

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  (file)

• Rhymes: -aj
• Homophones: travaille, travaillent, travailles

Synonyms

• boulot, taf, turbin, job

Derived terms

• travailler
• travailleur
• travailliste
• travail d'arabe

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Old French

Noun

Travail m. (oblique plural travaus, nominative singular travaus, nominative plural travail)

1. suffering, torment

Descendants

• French: travail