Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TOIL, v.i. [Sax. teolan, tiolan, to strive, strain, urge, to prepare, to heal, to toil, and tilian, tiligan, to prepare or provide, to till, to toil, to study or be solicitous; Russ. dialayu. The primary sense is expressed in the Saxon, to strain, to urge. Class Dl.]

To labor; to work; to exert strength with pain and fatigue of body or mind, particularly of the body, with efforts of some continuance or duration. Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing. Luke v.