Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1200-1300
Language: Anglo-French
Origin: toiller, from Old French toeillier 'to disturb, argue', from Latin tudiculare 'to crush', from tudicula 'machine for crushing olives', from tudes 'hammer'

toil

1 verb
     
toil1 [intransitive always + adverb/preposition]
1 also toil away to work very hard for a long period of time
toil at
I've been toiling away at this essay all weekend.
2 literary to move slowly and with great effort
toil up/through/along etc
They toiled slowly up the hill.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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