Forms: (v before 1600 usually written u, in Sc. often w). α. 3–7 trauail, -ayl, 4–6 -ayll, -aille, -ale, 4–7 -aill, -aile, -ayle, 5–6 -aylle; 4 travail, 4–7 -aill, -aile, -ayle, 5 -all(e, 5–6 -ayll, -ale; Sc. 4–5 trawaill, -wailȝe, -aile, -ayle, (5 trewaill), 4–6 trawayll. β. traueylle, 4–7 -ell, -el, 5 -eyle, 6 -eill, -ille, -yll; 5 travelle, 5–7 travell, 5–8 travel, (7 travil); 5–6 Sc. trawel, -ell. [a. OF. travail suffering or painful effort, trouble (12th c. in Godef., Compl.) = Prov. trebalh, Sp. trabajo, Pg. trabalho, It. travaglio; vbl. sb. from travailler, etc.: see TRAVAIL v. OF. and Pr. had also fem. forms travaille, trebalha, labor, fatigue.]
(As to the diverse sense-development in Fr. and in Eng. see TRAVAIL v.)
I. 1. Bodily or mental labor or toil, especially of a painful or oppressive nature; exertion; trouble; hardship; suffering. arch.
α. c. 1250. O. Kent. Serm., in O. E. Misc., 33. Clepe þo werkmen and yeld hem here trauail.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 61/247. [H]is trauail nis no þe lasse.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 9703 (Cott.). Qua wil for pes his trauaill [v.r. trauayl] spend. Ibid., 20942. Was nan sua mikel trauael mad. Ibid. (13[?]), 12765 (Gött.). Ferli þaim toght hu he might last, Wid sua grete trauale [other MSS. trauaile] and fast.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, ii. (Paulus), 911. He tholit trawal ful gret.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Frankl. T., 889. I wol nat taken a peny of thee For al my craft ne noght for my trauaille [v.rr. -ayle, -aile].
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 231. And lusti youthe his thonk deserveth Upon the travail which he doth.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 152. His modyr that … with grete trauaill hym norishid. Ibid., 158. Ne be not al tymys in traualle and in thoghtis.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VI. 672. We may thaim wyne, and mak bot lycht trawaill.
1549. Crowley, Last Trumpet, 268. Then holde thy selfe therwyth contente, As wyth the wage of thy travayle.
1570. Satir. Poems Reform., xvii. 13. Betuix gude and euill markand our trauaill [rhymes saill, fraill].
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. (S.T.S.), I. 78. The diligens,… Industrie, and trauale of this Thanaus.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lii. § 1. With care and trauaile to preserue this Article from … sinister construction.
1621. Elsing, Debates Ho. Lords (Camden), App. 146. For which my paines and travaill they gave me two pesses a manne.
1660. Jer. Taylor, Worthy Commun., Introd. 1. Faint and sick with travaile and fear.
1826. E. Irving, Babylon, I. II. 64. The common every-day travail of men in trade and handicrafts, in merchandise and adventure of every kind.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, xiv. (1880), 489. Ah, what travail have I not endured in the pursuit of May fly hooks.
β. 13[?]. Cursor M., 89 (Cott.). Quat bote is to sette traueil [v.rr. -ail, -ayle, -aile] On thyng þat may not auail.
[1375. (MS. 1487) Barbour, Bruce, VII. 45. We haf tynt þis trauell [rhyme avale].]
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xxxi. 42. Myn affliccioun and the traueil of myn hondis the Lord bihelde.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet, 1855. For vnto trauel wor we born, And al our elders vs be-forn.
c. 1450. Merlin, ii. 26. He that ought doth for a gode man, lesith not his traueyle.
1530. Palsgr., 282/2. Traveyle, labour, trauayl.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), II. 191. This Conranus … Greit travell dalie did vpoun him tak.
1570. Ane Tragedie, 32, in Satir. Poems Reform., x. 83. He to serue vs na traueil did spair.
1577. Northbrooke, Dicing (1843), 56. As Iob sayeth, a man is borne to trauel as the sparkes flee vpward.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, To Rdr. § 1. A great peece of my travell in these Lectures.
a. 1770. Jortin, Serm. (1771), I. iv. 67. He wrought with labor and travel night and day.
1774. Pennant, Tour Scot. in 1772, 225. After some travel [we] found the inside.
† 2. With a and pl. A piece of bodily or mental labor; a work, a task; in pl. labors.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 4712. Þi tenful trauayles þow hast for me suffred.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 133. Thei hadde a gret travail on honde.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VI. cxlix. 135. His manyfolde trauayllys, susteynyd for the weale of the realme.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 10. One that much desyred to eschew the trauayles of Martiall affayres.
c. 1620. Fletcher & Massinger, Trag. Barnavelt, V. i. Heaven direct And prosper theis your charitable traviles.
1690. Penn, Rise & Progr. Quakers, vi. (1834), 80. O it is a travail, a spiritual travail!
1724. A. Collins, Gr. Chr. Relig., Pref. 21. He that seeketh her early shall have no great travels.
† 3. The outcome, product, or result of toil or labor; a (finished) ‘work’; esp. a literary work.
1563. Shute, Archit., F ij b. I submyt my trauel, vnto allother … of like well wylling affection, wherwith I do offer this my poore atemptes and smal trauailes.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 183. The publication … of those neuer enough praised trauailes of master Waterhouse.
1624. Wotton, Archit., I. ad fin. I will conclude the first Part of my present Travel. The second remaineth concerning Ornaments.
4. The labor and pain of child-birth. Phr. in travail (Fr. en travail). Now chiefly fig.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 237. Vor in travail of his beringe is moder was verst ded.
c. 1300. St. Margarete, 283. Eni womman … in trauail of childe.
1512. Helyas, in Thoms, Prose Rom. (1828), III. 27. In great paine and travaille of bodye she childed .vi. sonnes and a faire doughter.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xlvii[i]. 6. Feare came there vpon them, & sorowe as vpon a woman in hir trauayle.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., V. x. Doe you not see how his legs are in trauaile with a measure?
1611. Bible, John xvi. 21. A woman, when shee is in trauaile, hath sorrow, because her houre is come.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 180. His wife dying after travel of a daughter.
1754–64. Smellie, Midwif., II. 70. She felt all the Praeludia of an imminent travail.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 448. In the time of her travail.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. VI. vii. What a distracted City;… the Hour clearly in travail,—child not to be named till born!
1897. T. Hardy, Well-Beloved, II. xiii. Between the travail of the sea without, and the travail of the woman within.
† 5. transf. The eclipse of a heavenly body. Cf. LABOR sb. 7. Obs. rare.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. xii. I. 9. Seeing these things, and the paineful ordinarie travels (since that this tearme is now taken up) of the starres.
[1627. Hakewill, Apol., x. (1630), 82. Eclipses of the Sun and Moone, in which they are commonly thought to suffer, and to be as it were in travell during that time.]
1640. Bp. Reynolds, Passions, i. 2. No eye gazeth on the Moone, but in her Travell.
† 6. transf. The straining movement of a vessel in rough seas. (Cf. LABOR v. 17.) Obs. rare–1.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 10. If the Vessel made but the least Travel, they thought themselves lost.
II. 7. Journeying, a journey.
For this and the senses derived from it, see TRAVEL sb., the spelling under which these senses are now differentiated from the preceding.
III. 8. attrib. and Comb., as travail-pain, -pang, pain or pang of child-birth (also fig.).
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, IV. xxvii. Thou heard’st a wretched female plain In agony of travail-pain.
1827. Keble, Chr. Y., 4th Sund. Trinity. The travail pangs of earth must last Till her appointed hour.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 86. The travail-pangs are violent, sudden, irresistible.
