type of heavy, coarse cloth, c. 1400, from Old French toile "linen cloth, canvas" (see toil (n.2)). As a type of dress material, from 1794.
Entries linking to toile
toil n.2
"net, snare," 1520s, from French toile "hunting net, cloth, web" (compare toile d'araignée "cobweb"), from Old French toile "cloth" (11c.), from Latin tela "web, net, warp of a fabric," from PIE root *teks- "to weave," also "to fabricate." Now used largely in plural (as in caught in the toils of the law).