travel

• travail (obsolete)
• travell (obsolete)

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹævəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ævəl

From Middle English travelen (“to make a laborious journey, travel”) from Middle Scots travailen (“to toil, work, travel”), alteration of Middle English travaillen (“to toil, work”), from Old French travailler (“to trouble, suffer, be worn out”). See the doublet travail.

Largely displaced fare, from Old English faran (“to go [a long distance], to travel”). More at fare.

travel (third-person singular simple present travels, present participle travelling or (US) traveling, simple past and past participle travelled or (US) traveled)

1. (intransitive) To be on a journey, often for pleasure or business and with luggage; to go from one place to another.

   John seems to spend as much time travelling as he does in the office.

   • 1661, John Stephens, An Historical Discourse..., Prol.:

     He that feareth oblatration must not travel.

   • 1930, Marmaduke Pickthall, transl., The Meaning of the Glorious Koran, surah 28, verse 29:

     Then, when Moses had fulfilled the term, and was travelling with his housefolk, he saw in the distance a fire and said unto his housefolk: Bide ye (here). Lo! I see in the distance a fire; peradventure I shall bring you tidings thence, or a brand from the fire that ye may warm yourselves.

2. (intransitive) To pass from one place to another; to move or transmit.

   Soundwaves can travel through water.

   The supposedly secret news of Mary's engagement travelled quickly through her group of friends.

3. (intransitive, basketball) To move illegally by walking or running without dribbling the ball.
4. (transitive) To travel throughout (a place).

   I’ve travelled the world.

5. (transitive) To force to journey.
   • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:

     They shall not be travailed forth of their own franchises.

6. (obsolete) To labour; to travail.
   • 1707, Richard Baxter, The Practical Works of the Late Reverend and Pious Mr. Richard Baxter, page 646:

     Necessity will make men fare hard, and work hard, and travel hard, go bare, and suffer much; yea it will even cut off a leg or arm to save their lives;

   • 1719, William Tilly, The Acceptable Sacrifice, page 335:

     We labour sore, and travel hard, and much Study is a Weariness to our Flesh; and of making many Books there is no End.

   • 1794, “Resignation”, in A Complete Edition of the Poets of Great Britain.Volume 10, page 144:

     Man holds in constant service bound The blustering winds and seas; Nor suns disdain to travel hard Their master, man, to please;

• fare, journey, reyse

From Middle English travail, travell, from Old French travail, travaille, travaillie, traval, travalle, traveaul, traveil, traveille, travel. Doublet of travail.

A caravan en route

travel (countable and uncountable, plural travels)

1. The act of traveling; passage from place to place.

   space travel

   travel to Spain

2. (in the plural) A series of journeys.

   I’m off on my travels around France again.

   • 2023 November 29, 'Mystery Shopper', “Does the railway deliver for passengers?”, in RAIL, number 997, page 53:

     But overall, I think the railway delivered very well on my travels. I'd give it 9/10 - there are just a few little rough edges that need smoothing off.

3. (in the plural) An account of one's travels.

   He released his travels in 1900, two years after returning from Africa.

   • 1903, Henry Yule, Arthur Burnell, Hobson-Jobson:

     CALUAT, s. This in some old travels is used for Ar. khilwat, 'privacy, a private interview' (C. P. Brown, MS.).

4. The activity or traffic along a route or through a given point.
5. The working motion of a piece of machinery; the length of a mechanical stroke.

   There was a lot of travel in the handle, because the tool was out of adjustment.

   My drill press has a travel of only 1.5 inches.

6. (obsolete) Labour; parturition; travail.
   • 1667, John Tanner, The hidden treasures of the art of physick, page 208:

     Hard Labour is when more vehement Pains and dangerous Symptomes happen to Women in Travel, and continue a longer time.

7. Distance that a keyboard's key moves vertically when depressed.

   The keys have great travel.

• Used attributively to describe things that have been created or modified for use during a journey.

• (act of travelling): journey, passage, tour, trip, voyage
• (activity or traffic along a route or through a given point): traffic
• (working motion of a piece of machinery): stroke, movement, progression

• travel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• “travel”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “travel”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• retval, varlet

Possibly from French travail; compare with Danish travl.

travel (neuter singular travelt, definite singular and plural travle, comparative travlere, indefinite superlative travlest, definite superlative travleste)

1. busy

• “travel” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Possibly from French travail; compare with Danish travl.

travel (neuter singular travelt, definite singular and plural travle, comparative travlare, indefinite superlative travlast, definite superlative travlaste)

1. busy

• “travel” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.