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toll1 definition

toll (tōl)

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

Now Rare to collect a toll or tolls

transitive verb

  1. to take or gather as a toll
  2. to impose a toll on
toll2 definition

toll (tōl)

transitive verb

  1. Now Chiefly Dial. to allure or entice; esp., to decoy (game, etc.)
    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

to sound or ring slowly in regularly repeated strokes: said of a bell

noun

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

Related Forms:

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alternate definitions:
toll Synonyms

toll

n.

  1. Charges

    duty, fee, customs, exaction, tollage; see also price.

  2. Loss

    casualties, deaths, losses; see damage 2.


toll

v.

knell, strike, ring, sound, peal; see also ring 3.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

toll Usage Examples

Object

  • bell: As long as man still tolls the bell May life be well and fruitful.

Converse of object

  • levy: This information can then be used to levy tolls.

Adjective modifier

  • heavy: The last hundred years had taken a heavy toll.

Modifies a noun

  • booth: You should show your badge at the toll booth.

Noun used with modifier

  • death: At the time of writing, the death toll from the assault on the city remains unknown.

Preposition: of

  • bell: An hour's tolling of a bell would only bring a hundred people to a sermon.
toll usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

toll quotes

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell To toll me back from thee to my sole self! Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well As she is famed to do, deceiving elf.

-Keats,John

toll quotes (more)

Webster's New World Dictionary of Quotations Copyright © 2005 by Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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MLA Style

"toll." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/toll>

APA Style

toll. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/toll

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