toll

Toll is defined as the charge for using a specific road or for making a telephone call, or it refers to the total loss or damage caused by an event.

(noun)

  1. When you pay $.50 cents to cross a bridge, this is an example of a toll.
  2. When a plane crash causes 10 deaths, this is an example of a situation where the death toll is equal to ten.
  3. When you suffer a loss and feel sad, this is an example of a situation where the loss took an emotional toll on you.

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See toll in Webster's New World College Dictionary

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

Origin: 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

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

Origin: 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:

See toll in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun
  1. A fixed charge or tax for a privilege, especially for passage across a bridge or along a road.
  2. A charge for a service, such as a long-distance telephone call.
  3. An amount or extent of loss or destruction, as of life, health, or property: “Poverty and inadequate health care take their toll on the quality of a community's health” (Los Angeles Times).
transitive verb tolled, toll·ing, tolls
  1. To exact as a toll.
  2. To charge a fee for using (a structure, such as a bridge).

Origin:

Origin: Middle English

Origin: , from Old English

Origin: , variant of toln

Origin: , from Medieval Latin tolōnīum

Origin: , from Latin telōnēum, tollbooth

Origin: , from Greek telōneion

Origin: , from telōnēs, tax collector

Origin: , from telos, tax; see telə- in Indo-European roots

.

verb tolled, toll·ing, tolls
verb, transitive
  1. To sound (a large bell) slowly at regular intervals.
  2. To announce or summon by tolling.
verb, intransitive
To sound in slowly repeated single tones.
noun
  1. The act of tolling.
  2. The sound of a bell being struck.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English tollen, to ring an alarm

Origin: , perhaps from tollen, to entice, pull

Origin: , variant of tillen

Origin: , from Old English -tyllan

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