toll
nounverbnounverbverbverbverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom/[t(ʰ)əʊ̯ɫ]/
- United Kingdom/[t(ʰ)ɒʊ̯ɫ]/
- //təʊl//
- //tɒl//
A fee paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, etc.
noun
- 1
A fee paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, etc.
Meanwhile, the tolls dispute had gone to the courts, and the E.L.R. was completely successful when, in 1856, the House of Lords awarded it the sum of £30,000 against the L.Y.R. for tolls overcharged.
- 2
Loss or damage incurred through a disaster.
The war has taken its toll on the people.
- 3
A fee paid by the owner of materials or other goods for processing such goods, as under a tolling agreement.
toll ore refining; toll manufacturing
- 4
A fee for using any kind of material processing service.
We can handle on a toll basis your needs for spray drying, repackaging, crushing and grinding, and dry blending.
- 5
A tollbooth.
We will be replacing some manned tolls with high-speed device readers.
- 6
obsoleteA liberty to buy and sell within the bounds of a manor.
- 7
obsoleteA portion of grain taken by a miller as a compensation for grinding.
Etymology
From Middle English toll, tol, tolle, from Old English toll m or n and toln f (“toll, duty, custom”), from Proto-West Germanic *toll, *tolnu, from Proto-Germanic *tullaz, *tullō (“that which is counted or told, reckoning”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tol (“toll”), Dutch tol (“toll”), German Zoll (“toll, duty, customs”), Danish told (“toll, duty, tariff”), Swedish tull (“toll, customs”), Icelandic tollur (“toll, customs”). More at tell, tale. Alternate etymology derives Old English toll from Medieval Latin tolōneum, tolōnium, alteration (due to the Germanic forms above) of Latin telōneum, from Ancient Greek τελώνιον (telṓnion, “toll-house”), from τέλος (télos, “tax”).
verb
- 1
To impose a fee for the use of.
Once more it is proposed to toll the East River bridges.
- 2
To levy a toll on (someone or something).
No Italian priest Shall tithe or toll in our dominions.
- 3
To take as a toll.
- 4
To pay a toll or tallage.
I will buy me a sonne in Law in a faire, and toule for this. Ile none of him.
noun
- 1
The act or sound of ringing a bell, especially slowly, as with a church or cemetery bell.
Etymology
Probably the same as Etymology 3. Possibly related to or influenced by toil
verb
- 1
To ring (a bell) slowly and repeatedly.
Martin tolled the great bell every day.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls.
From the belfries far and near the funereal deathbell tolled unceasingly while all around the gloomy precincts rolled the ominous warning of a hundred muffled drums punctuated by the hollow booming of pieces of ordnance.
- 2
To summon by ringing a bell.
The ringer tolled the workers back from the fields for vespers.
When hollow murmurs of their evening bells Dismiss the sleepy swains, and toll them to their cells.
- 3
To announce by ringing a bell.
The bells tolled the King’s death.
Slow tolls the village-clock the drowſy hour; The partridge burſts away on whirring wings; Deep mourns the turtle in ſequeſter'd bower, And ſhrill lark carols clear from her aereal tour.
- 4
figurativeTo make a sound as if made by a bell.
The chaplain's first mention of the name Yossarian! had tolled deep in his memory like a portentous gong.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo draw; pull; tug; drag.
- 2
To tear in pieces.
- 3
To draw; entice; invite; allure.
Hou many virgins shal she tolle and drawe to þe Lord - "Life of Our Lady"
- 4
To lure with bait; tole (especially, fish and animals).
Etymology
From Middle English tolen, tollen, variation of tullen, tillen (“to draw, allure, entice”), from Old English *tyllan, *tillan (“to pull, draw, attract”) (found in compounds fortyllan (“to seduce, lead astray, draw away from the mark, deceive”) and betyllan, betillan (“to lure, decoy”)), related to Old Frisian tilla (“to lift, raise”), Dutch tillen (“to lift, raise, weigh, buy”), Low German tillen (“to lift, remove”), Swedish dialectal tille (“to take up, appropriate”).
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo take away; to vacate; to annul.
- 2
To suspend.
The statute of limitations defense was tolled as a result of the defendant’s wrongful conduct.
Etymology
From Latin tollō (“to lift up”).
verb
- 1
Also a form of tellsimple past and past participle of tell
I done toll you for the last time.
Forms
- plural
- tolls
- past tense
- tolled
- past participle
- tolled
- present participle
- tolling
- third person singular
- tolls
toll · A fee paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a…
Toll · A surname.tolling · The act by which a bell is tolled.tom · The male of the domesticated cat, especially if not neutered.