toil over (someone or something)

toil over (someone or something)

1. To work continually, diligently, and strenuously to complete something. I've been toiling over this project for weeks now, and it still feels like it's never going to be done.

2. Of a surgeon, to spend long, continuous hours operating on a patient. Our team toiled over him for nearly six hours, but in the end we weren't able to save his life. I'm so sorry.

See also: over, toil

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

toil over someone or something

to work hard on someone or something. The doctors toiled over the patient for hours. Ken toiled over his model plane well into the night.

See also: over, toil

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.