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Noun: travail  tru'veyl
Usage: literary
  1. Use of physical or mental energy; hard work
    "The construction of the cathedral was a great travail";
    - effort, elbow grease [informal], exertion, sweat [informal]
     
  2. Concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child
    "she was in travail for six hours";
    - parturiency, labor [US], labour [Brit, Cdn], confinement, lying-in, childbed [archaic]
Verb: travail  tru'veyl
Usage: literary
  1. Work hard
    "Lexicographers travail all day long";
    - labor [US], labour [Brit, Cdn], toil, fag [informal], grind [informal], drudge, dig [US, informal], moil [N. Amer]

Derived forms: travailing, travailed, travails

Type of: birth, birthing, giving birth, labor [US], labour [Brit, Cdn], parturition, toil, work

Part of: gestation, gravidation [archaic], gravidity [technical], maternity, pregnancy

Encyclopedia: Travail, Genre et Sociétés