Travel, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Traveled or Travelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Traveling or Travelling.]
Etymology: [Properly, to labor, and the same word as travail.]
1. To labor; to travail. [Obsoles.] Hooker.
2. To go or march on foot; to walk; as, to travel over the city, or through the streets.
3. To pass by riding, or in any manner, to a distant place, or to many places; to journey; as, a man travels for his health; he is traveling in California.
4. To pass; to go; to move. Time travels in divers paces with divers persons. Shak.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Travel, v. t.
1. To journey over; to traverse; as, to travel the continent. "I travel this profound." Milton.
2. To force to journey. [R.] They shall not be traveled forth of their own franchises. Spenser.
Travel, n.
1. The act of traveling, or journeying from place to place; a journey. With long travel I am stiff and weary. Shak. His travels ended at his country seat. Dryden.
2. pl.
An account, by a traveler, of occurrences and observations during a journey; as, a book of travels; -- often used as the title of a book; as, Travels in Italy.
3. (Mach.)
The length of stroke of a reciprocating piece; as, the travel of a slide valve.
4. Labor; parturition; travail. [Obs.]
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for travel; he lists it under journey.
Where he writes about it:
Travel is a passing from place to place, not necessarily in a direct line or with fixed destination; a journey through Europe would be a passage to some destination beyond or at the farther boundary; travel in Europe may be in no direct course, but may include many journeys in different directions. — from journey