toll

noun

1. a tax or charge for a privilege, esp. for permission to pass over a bridge, along a highway, etc.
2. a charge for service or extra service, as for transportation, for a long-distance telephone call, or, formerly, for having one's grain milled
3. the number lost, taken, exacted, etc.; exaction the tornado took a heavy toll of lives

Etymology: ME < OE, akin to Ger zoll, ON tollr < MLowG tol < ML tolneum < VL *toloneum, toll(house), for L teloneum < Gr telōnion < telōnēs, tax collector < telos, tax, akin to tlēnai, to support, bear: for IE base see tolerate

intransitive verb

transitive verb

1. to take or gather as a toll
2. to impose a toll on

transitive verb

1. Now Chiefly Dial. to allure or entice; esp., to decoy (game, etc.)
2. 1. to ring (a church bell, etc.) slowly with regularly repeated strokes, esp. for announcing a death
   2. to sound (the hour, a knell, etc.) by this
   3. to announce, summon, or dismiss by this
   4. to announce the death of (someone) in this way

Etymology: ME tollen, to pull, ? akin to OE -tyllan, to mislead < IE base *del- > tale

intransitive verb

noun

1. the act of tolling a bell
2. the sound of a bell tolling
3. a single stroke of the bell