toilsome

English

Alternative forms

• toylesome (obsolete)

Etymology

From toil +‎ -some.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈtɔɪlsəm/

Adjective

toilsome (comparative more toilsome, superlative most toilsome)

1. Requiring continuous physical effort; laborious.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     ‘And you, Sir knight,’ / (Said she) ‘that taken have this toylesome paine / For wretched woman […]!’

   • 1940 July, “Notes and News: Timetables in South Africa”, in Railway Magazine, page 422:

     The whole of the interior of South Africa is, of course, one vast plateau at a considerable elevation, and all the main lines coming up from the coast have some toilsome climbing.

Derived terms

• toilsomely
• toilsomeness
• untoilsome

Translations

Requiring continuous physical effort

• Bulgarian: тежък (bg) (težǎk), уморителен (bg) (umoritelen)
• Faroese: stríggin, strævin, striltin, tungur (fo)
• German: mühselig (de), mühsam (de), anstrengend (de), schwer (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἐπίπονος (epíponos), μογερός (mogerós)

• Latin: laboriosus