travail

/trəˈveɪl/

/trəˈveɪl/

Other forms: travails; travailing; travailed

If you’ve had to bust your behind, burn the midnight oil, and shed blood, sweat, and tears to get where you are today, you could say you’ve endured significant travail. In other words, back-breakingly hard mental exertion or physical labor.

Travail comes to us from a sinister Latin word: trepalium, meaning “instrument of torture.” The closest English word is probably toil, though travail means you’re not just exerting monumental effort but suffering as you do so. If your life has been hard-knock enough to be the stuff of old blues songs or Shakespearean tragedies, you’ve had your share of travails. In French, incidentally, travail simply means "work." The Spanish trabajo, "work," is closely related.

Definitions of travail

1. noun

   use of physical or mental energy; hard work
   synonyms: effort, elbow grease, exertion, sweat

   types:

   struggle

   strenuous effort

   difficulty, trouble

   an effort that is inconvenient

   least effort, least resistance

   the least effortful way to do something

   strain, straining

   an intense or violent exertion

   exercise, exercising, physical exercise, physical exertion, workout

   the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit

   pull

   a sustained effort

   application, diligence

   a diligent effort

   overkill

   any effort that seems to go farther than would be necessary to achieve its goal

   supererogation

   an effort above and beyond the call of duty

   overexertion

   excessive exertion; so much exertion that discomfort or injury results

   detrition, friction, rubbing

   effort expended in moving one object over another with pressure

   attrition

   the act of rubbing together; wearing something down by friction

   cardiopulmonary exercise

   exercise intended to strengthen the circulatory system

   gymnastic exercise

   (gymnastics) an exercise designed to develop and display strength and agility and balance (usually performed with or on some gymnastic apparatus)

   kick up

   raising the feet backward with the hands on the ground; a first movement in doing a handstand

   grapple, grappling, hand-to-hand struggle, wrestle, wrestling

   the act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat

   the devil

   something difficult or awkward to do or deal with

   tsuris

   (Yiddish) aggravating trouble

   exercise set, set

   several exercises intended to be done in series

   anaerobic exercise, bodybuilding, muscle building, musclebuilding

   exercise that builds muscles through tension

   calisthenics, callisthenics

   light exercises designed to promote general fitness

   isometric exercise, isometrics

   muscle-building exercises (or a system of musclebuilding exercises) involving muscular contractions against resistance without movement (the muscles contracts but the length of the muscle does not change)

   isotonic exercise

   exercise in which opposing muscles contract and there is controlled movement (tension is constant while the lengths of the muscles change)

   Kegel exercises, pubococcygeus exercises

   exercises for women designed to improve the ability to hold urine

   stretch, stretching

   exercise designed to extend the limbs and muscles to their full extent

   arm exercise

   exercise designed to strengthen the arm muscles

   back exercise

   exercise designed to strengthen the back muscles

   leg exercise

   exercise designed to strengthen the leg muscles

   neck exercise

   exercise designed to strengthen the neck muscles

   stomach exercise, tummy crunch

   an exercise designed to strengthen the abdominal muscles

   yoga

   a system of exercises practiced as part of the Hindu discipline to promote control of the body and mind

   type of:

   labor, labour, toil

   productive work (especially physical work done for wages)
2. verb

   work hard
   synonyms: dig, drudge, fag, grind, labor, labour, moil, toil

   type of:

   do work, work

   be employed
3. noun

   concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
   synonyms: childbed, confinement, labor, labour, lying-in, parturiency

   types:

   premature labor, premature labour

   labor beginning prior to the 37th week of gestation

   type of:

   birth, birthing, giving birth, parturition

   the process of giving birth