# toll

Pronunciation: say "TOHL" US /toʊl/, UK /təʊl/

## Noun

1. The loss, damage, suffering, or death caused by an event, activity, or situation, such as a disaster, war, or prolonged strain.
   - Simple: The amount of damage, harm, or death caused by something, such as a disaster, a war, or hard work.
   - _The earthquake's toll climbed into the thousands within days._
   - _Years of drought took a quiet toll on the farming families._
2. A fee paid for a privilege or liberty, especially for passing over a bridge or highway or selling goods at a market.
   - Simple: Money you pay to use a road, bridge, or tunnel.
   - _Drivers pay a toll each time they enter the tunnel._
   - _Merchants once owed a toll for every stall they set up at the fair._
3. A booth at which a fee is collected for using a road or bridge. *(US)*
   - Simple: A booth where drivers stop and pay to use a road or bridge.
   - _Traffic backed up for a mile behind the toll on the interstate._
   - _She rolled down her window at the toll and handed over the cash._
7. The ringing of a bell, or the sound it makes, particularly the slow ringing of a church or cemetery bell.
   - Simple: The slow, repeated ringing of a bell, like the kind heard at a church or funeral.
   - _The mournful toll of the bell announced the end of the service._
   - _Each toll echoed through the quiet town at midnight._
8. A fee paid by the owner of raw materials to have them processed by another company, as under a tolling agreement.
   - Simple: Money a company pays another company to process its materials, like oil or ore.
   - _The refinery charged a steep toll for processing the client's crude oil._
   - _Under the tolling deal, the smelter earned a fixed toll for every ton of ore it processed, while the mining company kept the metal._

## Verb

4. To charge a fee, or take a portion of goods, for the use of something such as a road or bridge, or from people or things passing through.
   - Simple: To make people pay money, or give part of their goods, to use a road, bridge, or other place.
   - _The agency will toll the highway to pay for ongoing repairs._
   - _Several states now toll their major commuter routes._
5. To ring a bell slowly and repeatedly, or (of a bell or something like a bell) to sound in this way, often to announce a death or call people together.
   - Simple: To ring a bell slowly again and again, or to make that sound, often to mark a death or call people.
   - _Monks toll the chapel bell each evening before prayers._
   - _They toll the bell to mark the passing hours._
6. To suspend the running of something, such as a legal time limit.
   - Simple: To pause a legal deadline so that time stops counting for a while.
   - _The agreement will toll the statute of limitations until mediation ends._
   - _Filing the motion tolled the deadline for several months._

## Verb

9. To draw, pull, tug, or drag something along. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To pull or drag something along.
10. To tear something into pieces. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To rip something apart into pieces.
11. To take away, vacate, or annul a right, entry, or claim. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To cancel or take away a person's legal right or claim.

## Noun

12. A portion of grain that a miller takes as payment for grinding. *(obsolete, England)*
   - Simple: The share of grain a miller keeps as payment for grinding it.
13. A manorial privilege permitting the holder to buy and sell within the manor's bounds. *(obsolete, UK)*
   - Simple: The right to buy and sell goods within one manor's lands.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To pay a toll or tallage: a charge levied for passage, trade, or a feudal due.
- (verb) To lure or entice animals or people closer, for example with bait or a promise of reward.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–4, 8, 12–13** — From Middle English toll, from Old English toll and toln ("toll, duty, custom"), going back through Proto-Germanic to a root meaning "that which is counted or reckoned"; it is related to German Zoll and Dutch tol. An alternate account derives the Old English word from Medieval Latin tolōneum, ultimately from Ancient Greek telṓnion ("toll-house").
**Meanings 5, 7** — Most likely this is the word in Etymology 3. The word toil may be connected to it, or may have influenced it.
**Meanings 9–10** — Middle English tolen or tollen was a variant of tullen, tillen ("to draw, allure, entice"). It came from Old English *tyllan, *tillan, meaning to pull, draw or attract, and is related to Dutch tillen ("to lift, raise") and Old Frisian tilla ("to lift, raise").
**Meanings 6, 11** — From Latin tollō ("to lift up").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/toll (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).