"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.
权威例句
1. He did whatever he could to ease their travail.
他为减轻他们的辛劳做了力所能及的一切。
2. Mothers know the travail of giving birth to a child.
母亲们了解分娩时的痛苦.
3. He gained the medal through his painful travail.
他通过艰辛的努力获得了奖牌.
4. World had to be in travail, that the meanest flower might blow.
社会必须经历阵痛以便让最卑微的花开放.
5. The travail of nationhood required above all economic and social progress.