Noun

(en noun)

A painful or trying experience.

*

* {{quote-news

, year=2012 , date=December 29 , author=Paul Doyle , title=Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle , work=The Guardian citation , page= , passage=Arsène Wenger confessed: "The result was not an accurate indication of the match." Certainly, at half-time it seemed unlikely that Arsenal would catch fire so spectacularly because the first half was a damp squib of a display from Wenger's team, as Newcastle initially showed no ill-effects from their Old Trafford ordeal .}}

A trial in which the accused was subjected to a dangerous test (such as ducking in water), divine authority deciding the guilt of the accused.

Noun

(en-noun)

(archaic) Arduous or painful exertion; excessive labor, suffering, hardship.

* Hooker

As everything of price, so this doth require travail .

*, II.20:

*:Travell and pleasure, most unlike in nature, are notwithstanding followed together by a kind of I wot not what natural conjunction.

* 1936 , (Djuna Barnes), Nightwood , Faber & Faber 2007, p. 38:

He had thought of making a destiny for himself, through laborious and untiring travail .

Specifically, the labor of childbirth.

(obsolete, countable) An act of working; labor (US), labour (British).

(obsolete) The eclipse of a celestial object.