To haul means to pull or drag something heavy with effort. When you haul your overstuffed backpack up three flights of stairs, you're working hard to move that weight. Moving companies haul furniture from old houses to new ones. Fishermen haul in their nets, pulling them up from the ocean full of fish.

The word captures both the difficulty and the determination involved. You don't haul a pencil across your desk; you haul things that require real muscle and persistence. A truck driver might haul cargo across the country, while a farmer hauls bales of hay from the field to the barn.

Haul can also mean the things you've collected or gained. After trick-or-treating, you might spread out your haul of candy on the kitchen table. When someone makes a great haul, they've gathered or earned something valuable, like a fisherman bringing in a huge haul of tuna.

For long journeys, people talk about the long haul, meaning a difficult effort that takes sustained work over time. Learning to play piano well is a long haul. Training for a marathon is a long haul. These things require patience and commitment, and the effort makes the achievement meaningful.