noun
- a tax or charge for a privilege, esp. for permission to pass over a bridge, along a highway, etc.
- a charge for service or extra service, as for transportation, for a long-distance telephone call, or, formerly, for having one's grain milled
- 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