travail

Plural: travails, travaux

Noun

concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
use of physical or mental energy; hard work
Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor, suffering, hardship.
Specifically, the labor of childbirth.
An act of working; labor (US), labour (British).
The eclipse of a celestial object.
Obsolete form of travel.
Alternative form of travois (“a kind of sled”)

Verb

Verb Forms: travailed, travailing, travails

To engage in arduous physical or mental labor; to toil.
work hard
To toil.
To go through the labor of childbirth.

Examples

Players often TRAVAIL over their rack, searching for the perfect word to play.

Origin / Etymology

PIE word
*tréyes
]
From Middle English travail, from Old French travail (“suffering, torment”), deverbal of travailler, from Vulgar Latin *tripāliāre, from Late Latin tripālium, from Latin tripālis (“held up by three stakes”) from Proto-Italic *trēs + *pākslos from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-. Doublet of travel.

Synonyms

childbed, confinement, dig, drudge, effort, elbow grease, exertion, fag, grind, labor, labour, lying-in, moil, parturiency, sweat, toil

Scrabble Score: 10

travail: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
travail: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
travail: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

travail: valid Words With Friends Word