Word of the Day: Toil
toil / ˈtȯi(-ə)l
noun (1)
1. excessive physical labor
The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it.
John Ruskin, 1819-1900
2. struggle
Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.
Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790
3. a labor-intensive task or job
Luck is not chance, it’s toil; fortune’s expensive smile is earned.
Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886
noun (2)
1. a trap; something in which one can get caught
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home.
from ‘Amazing Grace; by John Newton, 1725-1807
verb
1. to work hard
The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.
from ‘The Ladder of St. Augustine’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882
2. to move with difficulty
On eyes that watch as well as eyes that weep
Descends the solemn mystery of sleep,
Toiling and climbing to the very close,
The weary Body, longing for repose,
On the gained level of the day’s ascent,
Halts for the night and pitches there its tent.
from ‘Sleep, its Resuscitating Power’ by Abraham Coles, 1813-1891
Thank you for including the Dictionary Project in the good work you do in your club. In my club, we have provided Dictionaries for third-grade students for enough years that now we are having former students help us to present dictionaries each year. They are often returning to the same classrooms that they were third-grade students. Teachers plead every year for us to NEVER quit this valuable project. They tell us that students NEED paper books to learn to read, to learn to do research and to do independent study. Please send me pictures of your presentations and tell me about your visits to the schools to give dictionaries to the students. To be included in our newsletter you can send me your stories at DG.2019@5630mail.org.
