Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Travail \Tra`vail"\, n. [Cf. F. travail, a frame for confining a
   horse, or OF. travail beam, and E. trave, n. Cf. {Travail},
   v. i.]
   Same as {Travois}.

Travail \Trav"ail\ (?; 48), n. [F. travail; cf. Pr. trabalh,
   trebalh, toil, torment, torture; probably from LL. trepalium
   a place where criminals are tortured, instrument of torture.
   But the French word may be akin to L. trabs a beam, or have
   been influenced by a derivative from trabs (cf. {Trave}). Cf.
   {Travel}.]
   1. Labor with pain; severe toil or exertion.

            As everything of price, so this doth require
            travail.                              --Hooker.

   2. Parturition; labor; as, an easy travail.

Travail \Trav"ail\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Travailed}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Travailing}.] [F. travailler, OF. traveillier,
   travaillier, to labor, toil, torment; cf. Pr. trebalhar to
   torment, agitate. See {Travail}, n.]
   1. To labor with pain; to toil. [Archaic] ``Slothful persons
      which will not travail for their livings.'' --Latimer.

   2. To suffer the pangs of childbirth; to be in labor.

Travail \Trav"ail\, v. t.
   To harass; to tire. [Obs.]

         As if all these troubles had not been sufficient to
         travail the realm, a great division fell among the
         nobility.                                --Hayward.

Source : WordNet®

travail
     n 1: concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of labor to
          the birth of a child; "she was in labor for six hours"
          [syn: {parturiency}, {labor}, {labour}, {confinement}, {lying-in},
           {childbed}]
     2: use of physical or mental energy; hard work; "he got an A
        for effort"; "they managed only with great exertion" [syn:
         {effort}, {elbow grease}, {exertion}, {sweat}]
     v : work hard; "She was digging away at her math homework";
         "Lexicographers drudge all day long" [syn: {labor}, {labour},
          {toil}, {fag}, {grind}, {drudge}, {dig}, {moil}]