drudge

[druhj] /drʌdʒ/
noun
1.
a person who does menial, distasteful, dull, or hard work.
2.
a person who works in a routine, unimaginative way.
verb (used without object), drudged, drudging.
3.
to perform menial, distasteful, dull, or hard work.
Origin
1485-95; compare OE man's name Drycghelm helmet maker, equivalent to drycg (akin to drēogan to work) + helm helm2
Related forms
drudger, noun
drudgingly, adverb
Synonyms
3. toil, hack, grub, plod, slave.
Examples from the web for drudge
  • These decisions were not all about moving drudge work to countries with low wages.
  • Friends said he wanted to escape the stresses of academic politics and administrative drudge work.
  • The step of thickening and digestion is not a drudge.
  • The drudge that was supposed to be kept wet at all times is not wet, it is dry.
British Dictionary definitions for drudge

drudge

/drʌdʒ/
noun
1.
a person, such as a servant, who works hard at wearisome menial tasks
verb
2.
(intransitive) to toil at such tasks
Derived Forms
drudger, noun
drudgingly, adverb
Word Origin
C16: perhaps from druggen to toil
Word Origin and History for drudge
n.

late 15c., "one employed in mean, servile, or distasteful work," missing in Old English and Middle English (but cf. Middle English druggen "do menial or monotonous work; druggunge, mid-13c., in Barnhart), but apparently related to Old English dreogan "to work, suffer, endure" (see endure). The verb is from 1540s. Related: Drudged; drudging. The surname is from 13c., probably from Old French dragie "a mixture of grains sown together," thus, a grower of this crop.