"labor, toil," mid-13c., from Old French travail "work, labor, toil, suffering or painful effort, trouble; arduous journey" (12c.), from travailler "to toil, labor," originally "to trouble, torture, torment," from Vulgar Latin *tripaliare "to torture," from *tripalium (in Late Latin trepalium) "instrument of torture," probably from Latin tripalis "having three stakes" (from tria "three;" see three + palus "stake;" see pale (n.)), which sounds ominous, but the exact notion is obscure. The verb is recorded from late 13c. in English, from the verb in Old French.
雙語例句
1. He did whatever he could to ease their travail.
他為減輕他們的辛勞做了力所能及的一切。
來自柯林斯例句
2. Mothers know the travail of giving birth to a child.
母親們了解分娩時的痛苦.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
3. He gained the medal through his painful travail.
他通過艱辛的努力獲得了獎牌.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4. World had to be in travail, that the meanest flower might blow.
社會必須經(jīng)歷陣痛以便讓最卑微的花開放.
來自辭典例句
5. The travail of nationhood required above all economic and social progress.