What does "toll" mean?
Toll: To draw; to entice; to allure. See Tole.
Additional senses
- 2.Etym: [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." Hood.
- 3.To strike, or to indicate by striking, as the hour; to ring a toll for; as, to toll a departed friend. Shak. Slow tolls the village clock the drowsy hour. Beattie.
- 4.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. Dryden.
- 5.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. Shak. Now sink in sorrows with a tolling bell. Pope.
- 6.The sound of a bell produced by strokes slowly and uniformly repeated.
- 7.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.
- 8.(Sax. & O. Eng. Law) A liberty to buy and sell within the bounds of a manor.
- 9.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. Burrill. -- 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.] Crabb. -- Toll thorough (Eng. Law), toll taken by a town for beasts driven through it, or over a bridge or ferry maintained at its cost. Brande & C. -- 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. Burrill.
- 10.To pay toll or tallage. [R.] Shak.
- 11.To take toll; to raise a tax. [R.] Well could he [the miller] steal corn and toll thrice. Chaucer. No Italian priest Shall tithe or toll in our dominions. Shak.
- 12.To collect, as a toll. Shak.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00