DROIL NOUN 1. a servant of all work; a drudge ...1579 obs. 2. drudgery; toil in disagreeable work; mean labour ...a1644 obs. VERB 1. to drudge, to slave, to toil in mean work; to work sluggishly or slowly; to plod ...1591 2. to subject to drudgery ...a1644 ETYMOLOGY as per the OED: "The origin and mutual relations of this and the related droil (v.) are not clear. The noun has been (very doubtfully) compared with Icelandic drjóli , drone, sluggard. According to analogy (as well as dates), the verb would be expected to be formed from the noun in sense 1; the verb however is possibly related to Dutch druilen to loiter, slumber, in Kilian druylen ‘suggredi, latenter siue clam ire’, which answers for the form, but imperfectly for the sense. The word has probably been influenced by toil , moil " FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1579 - see EXAMPLE below
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