Etymology : Middle English, from Old English, from Vulgar Latin tolonium, alteration of Late Latin telonium customhouse, from Greek tolOnion, from telOnEs collector of tolls, from telos tax, toll; perhaps akin to Greek tlEnai to bear
Pronunciation : 'tOl
Function : noun
Date : before 12th century
1. tax, charge, levy; grievous price; act or sound of ringing a bell. ring. toll\toll\, v. t. [see:
tole.].
2. to draw; to entice; to allure. see:
tole.
3. [probably the same word as toll to draw, and at first meaning, to ring in order to draw people to church.] to cause to sound, as a bell, with strokes slowly and uniformly repeated; as, to toll the funeral bell. "the sexton tolled the bell." ood.
4. to strike, or to indicate by striking, as the hour; to ring a toll for; as, to toll a departed friend. slow tolls the village clock the drowsy hour.
5. to call, summon, or notify, by tolling or ringing. when hollow murmurs of their evening bells dismiss the sleepy swains, and toll them to their cells.toll \toll\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. tolled ; p. pr. & vb. n. tolling.] to sound or ring, as a bell, with strokes uniformly repeated at intervals, as at funerals, or in calling assemblies, or to announce the death of a person. the country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll. now sink in sorrows with a tolling bell.toll \toll\, n. the sound of a bell produced by strokes slowly and uniformly repeated.toll \toll\ , n. [oe. tol, as. toll; akin to os. & d. tol, g. zoll, ohg. zol, icel. tollr, sw. tull, dan. told, and also to e. tale; -- originally, that which is counted out in payment. see:
tale number.].
6. a tax paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, or the like.
7. (sax. & o. eng. law) a liberty to buy and sell within the bounds of a manor.
8. a portion of grain taken by a miller as a compensation for grinding.toll and team (o. eng. law), the privilege of having a market, and jurisdiction of villeins.toll bar, a bar or beam used on a canal for stopping boats at the tollhouse, or on a road for stopping passengers.toll bridge, a bridge where toll is paid for passing over it.toll corn, corn taken as pay for grinding at a mill.toll dish, a dish for measuring toll in mills.toll gatherer, a man who takes, or gathers, toll.toll hop, a toll dish. [obs.] rabb.toll thorough (eng. law), toll taken by a town for beasts driven through it, or over a bridge or ferry maintained at its cost.toll traverse (eng. law), toll taken by an individual for beasts driven across his ground; toll paid by a person for passing over the private ground, bridge, ferry, or the like, of another.toll turn (eng. law), a toll paid at the return of beasts from market, though they were not sold.
9. To take away; to vacate; to annul.
10. To draw; to entice; to allure.
11. See Tole.
12. To cause to sound, as a bell, with strokes slowly and uniformly repeated; as, to toll the funeral bell.
13. To strike, or to indicate by striking, as the hour; to ring a toll for; as, to toll a departed friend.
14. To call, summon, or notify, by tolling or ringing.
15. To sound or ring, as a bell, with strokes uniformly repeated at intervals, as at funerals, or in calling assemblies, or to announce the death of a person.
16. The sound of a bell produced by strokes slowly and uniformly repeated.
17. A tax paid for some liberty or privilege, particularly for the privilege of passing over a bridge or on a highway, or for that of vending goods in a fair, market, or the like.
18. A liberty to buy and sell within the bounds of a manor.
19. A portion of grain taken by a miller as a compensation for grinding.
20. To pay toll or tallage.
21. To take toll; to raise a tax.
22. To collect, as a toll. a fee levied for the use of roads or bridges ring slowly; "For whom the bell tolls" charge a fee for using; "Toll the bridges into New York City".
23. 1. When a bell tolls or when someone tolls it, it rings slowly and repeatedly, often as a sign that someone has died. Church bells tolled and black flags fluttered The pilgrims tolled the bell.
24. A toll is a small sum of money that you have to pay in order to use a particular bridge or road.
25. A toll road or toll bridge is a road or bridge where you have to pay in order to use it.
26. A toll is a total number of deaths, accidents, or disasters that occur in a particular period of time. There are fears that the casualty toll may be higher. see also:
death toll.
27. If you say that something takes its toll or takes a heavy toll, you mean that it has a bad effect or causes a lot of suffering. Winter takes its toll on your health. if a large bell tolls, or if you toll it, it keeps ringing slowly, especially to show that someone has died. Sum levied on users of certain roads, canals, bridges, tunnels, and other such travel and transportation infrastructure, primarily to pay for construction and maintenance. Tolls were known in the ancient world and were widely used in medieval Europe as a means of supporting bridge construction. Canal building, which became extensive in Europe in the 18th-19th centuries, was financed chiefly by tolls, and many major roads were built by private companies with the right to collect tolls. In the U.S. the National Road, built beginning in 1806, was initially financed through the sale of public land, but maintenance problems led Congress to authorize tolls. Toll roads diminished in the latter part of the 19th century, but the idea was revived with the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the 1930s, and after World War II many states built toll expressways. In many countries tolls are also used to finance long-span bridges, major tunnels, and highways. They have also been blamed for both reducing, and abetting, rush-hour traffic congestion. Canal tolls are still charged in some parts of the world, notably on the Suez and Panama canals.