"take a toll", what does it mean ?

Question

"take a toll", what does it mean ?

Answer 1

TAKE A TOLL

to have a bad effect on someone or something. "Bringing up nine children had taken its toll on my mother." "The disease has taken a horrendous toll in parts of western Africa."

Answer 2

To make a payment of some sort. Toll roads take a toll in order for you to travel on them. They require payment. When something takes a toll on you, it takes something from you, some type of payment. There is a cost attached.  

Answer 3

a toll is a payment for passage. have you heard of 'toll roads'? you pay a fee to use them. in life, it means the same thing. it means that a price is paid for an action, usually a high one. (not deadly)

Answer 4

cause some damage, get old, get used too much...taking a toll is the result (usually of something bad).

taking a toll is the effect of something...for example, if a person smoked cigarettes for 40 years of their life, it probably took a toll on their lungs (it caused some harm to their lungs).