till (prep.)

"give motion to by the act of pulling," c. 1200, drauen, spelling alteration of Old English dragan "to drag, to draw, protract" (class VI strong verb; past tense drog, past participle dragen), from Proto-Germanic *draganan "to draw, pull" (source also of Old Norse draga "to draw, drag, pull," Old Saxon dragan "to carry," Old Frisian drega, draga, Middle Dutch draghen "to carry, bring, throw," Old High German tragan "carry, bring, lead," German tragen "to carry, bear"), from PIE root *dhregh- (see drag (v.)).

Sense of "make a line or figure" (by "drawing" a pencil across paper) is from c. 1200. Meaning "remove or extract (a weapon) by pulling" is from late 12c., originally of a sword. Sense of "to pull (a bowstring)" is from c. 1200. To draw a criminal (drag him at the tail of a horse to the place of execution) is from c. 1300.

Meaning "select one (from a number of lots, etc.)" is from c. 1300. Sense of "bring (a crowd, an audience, etc.) by inducement or attraction" is from 1580s. Of a ship or boat, "to displace (a specified amount) of water," 1550s. In card-playing, "to take or receive (a card)," by 1772; draw-poker is by 1850. To draw out "lengthen, protract" is from 1550s; to draw the line in the figurative sense of "make a limit" is by 1793. To draw blood is from c. 1400.

The difference between [Draw Poker] and Poker is, that the player can draw from the pack as many cards as he may wish,—not exceeding five,—which must be given him by the dealer; but previous to drawing he must take from his original hand the game number as he may wish to draw, and lay them in the centre of the table. ["Bohn's New Hand-Book of Games," Philadelphia, 1850]

"to sound (a bell) with slow single strokes" (intransitive), mid-15c., probably a special use of Middle English tollen "to draw, lure, attract" (early 13c.), a variant of an unrecorded Old English *tollian, preserved in betyllan "to lure, decoy," and fortyllan "draw away, seduce," a word or element of obscure origin.

If so, the extended notion might be via tollen in a secondary sense of "to work, labor, pull (someone), drag" (c. 1400) and be a reference to the "drawing" on the bell rope. Or the notion might be "luring" people to church with the sound of the bells. A method used for summoning religious congregations or announcing a death or at a funeral, hence by late 16c. it had a figurative association with those qualities.

The transitive sense is from late 15c. Related: Tolled; tolling. The noun meaning "a stroke of a bell" is from mid-15c.

Toll (v.) "draw, lure, attract" persisted past Middle English: " 'Tis a mermaid, Has tolled my son to shipwreck" [Middleton/Dekker, "Roaring Girl"]. It emerged in U.S. dialect as "lure wild animals (ducks, etc.) for capture" (1838). Toll-bait was chum or other minced fish, etc., thrown overboard to lure fish.