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Added 9 October 2026

toll

/təʊl/ noun

In Latin: portōrium Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about toll at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A fee 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, etc.
Loss or damage incurred through a disaster.
The war has taken its toll on the people.
A fee paid by the owner of materials or other goods for processing such goods, as under a tolling agreement.
toll ore refining; toll manufacturing

verb

To impose a fee for the use of.
Once more it is proposed to toll the East River bridges.
To levy a toll on (someone or something).
To take as a toll.

noun

The act or sound of ringing a bell, especially slowly, as with a church or cemetery bell.

verb

To ring (a bell) slowly and repeatedly.
Martin tolled the great bell every day.
To summon by ringing a bell.
The ringer tolled the workers back from the fields for vespers.
To announce by ringing a bell.
The bells tolled the King’s death.

Origin

From Middle English toll, tol, tolle, from Old English toll m or n and toln f (“toll, duty, custom”), from Proto-West Germanic *toll, *tolnu, from Proto-Germanic *tullaz, *tullō (“that which is counted or told, reckoning”), from Proto-Indo-European *del- (“calculation, fraud”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tol (“toll”), Dutch tol (“toll”), German Zoll (“toll, duty, customs”), Danish told (“toll, duty, tariff”), Swedish tull (“toll, customs”), Icelandic tollur (“toll, customs”). More at tell, tale.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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