Definition of travail

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trave >

tra·vail    (tr-vl, trvl) KEY 

NOUN:

1. Work, especially when arduous or involving painful effort; toil. See Synonyms at work.
2. Tribulation or agony; anguish.
3. The labor of childbirth.

intr.v.
tra·vailed, tra·vail·ing, tra·vails

1. To work strenuously; toil.
2. To be in the labor of childbirth.

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ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, from Old French, from travailler, to work hard, from Vulgar Latin *triplire, to torture with a tripalium, from Late Latin triplium, instrument of torture, probably from Latin triplis, having three stakes : tri-, tri- + plus, stake; see pag- in Indo-European roots