toll

toll

toll¹ [tōl]

n.

[ME < OE, akin to Ger zoll, ON tollr < MLowG tol < ML tolneum < VL * toloneum, toll(house), for L teloneum < Gr telōnion < telōnēs, tax collector < telos, tax, akin to tlēnai, to support, bear: for IE base see TOLERATE]

1. a tax or charge for a privilege, esp. for permission to pass over a bridge, along a highway, etc.

2. a charge for service or extra service, as for transportation, for a long-distance telephone call, or, formerly, for having one's grain milled

3. the number lost, taken, exacted, etc.; exaction [the tornado took a heavy toll of lives]

vi.

Now Rare to collect a toll or tolls

vt.

Now Rare

1. to take or gather as a toll

2. to impose a toll on

toll² [tōl]

vt.

[ME tollen, to pull, ? akin to OE -tyllan, to mislead < IE base * del- > TALE]

1. Now Chiefly Dial. to allure or entice; esp., to decoy (game, etc.)

2.

a) to ring (a church bell, etc.) slowly with regularly repeated strokes, esp. for announcing a death

b) to sound (the hour, a knell, etc.) by this

c) to announce, summon, or dismiss by this

d) to announce the death of (someone) in this way

vi.

to sound or ring slowly in regularly repeated strokes: said of a bell

n.

1. the act of tolling a bell

2. the sound of a bell tolling

3. a single stroke of the bell

toller

n.