Definition of "toil" []

• To labor continuously; work strenuously. (verb-intransitive)
• To proceed with difficulty: toiling over the mountains. (verb-intransitive)
• Exhausting labor or effort: "A bit of the blackest and coarsest bread is . . . the sole recompense and the sole profit attaching to so arduous a toil” ( George Sand). See Synonyms at work. (noun)
• Archaic Strife; contention. (noun)
• Something that binds, snares, or entangles one; an entrapment. Often used in the plural: caught in the toils of despair. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "At the same time, critics, perhaps especially critics who are not themselves "creative" writers, ought more often to acknowledge that this toil is only compounded in the labor performed by poets and novelists."
• "A curse was laid upon them, it would seem, and they must work it out in toil and hardship."
• "BUT THEN, it happens, we make the cheesecake – all the ingredients come together and in the midst of toil is perfection!"