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drudging - 4 dictionary results

drudge

   [druhj]
noun, verb, drudged, drudg⋅ing.
–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)
3. to perform menial, distasteful, dull, or hard work.
Origin:
1485–95; cf. OE man's name Drycghelm helmet maker, equiv. to drycg (akin to drēogan to work) + helm helm 2
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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drudge 1     (drŭj)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   A person who does tedious, menial, or unpleasant work.
intr.v.   drudged, drudg·ing, drudg·es
To do tedious, unpleasant, or menial work.

[From Middle English druggen, to labor; akin to Old English drēogan, to work, suffer.]
drudg'er n., drudg'ing·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
drudge 2     (drŭj)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   & v. Chesapeake Bay
Variant of dredge1.
"Out here on the Chesapeake, they call it 'drudging for arsters,'" says Charles Kuralt in his book On the Road with Charles Kuralt. The Standard English verb dredge is pronounced with a centralized vowel by Chesapeake Bay oyster fishermen, yielding drudge. Drudge in turn has been picked up by city dwellers on the Delmarva Peninsula; a survey of some young people from Baltimore revealed that they did not even know that there was a Standard English verb dredge. Kuralt gives the regional pronunciation a whimsical folk etymology with the standard meaning of drudge, "to do tedious or unpleasant work," observing, "Whatever you do for a living, it's not as hard as 'drudging for arsters.'"
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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drudging

adjective
doing arduous or unpleasant work; "drudging peasants"; "the bent backs of laboring slaves picking cotton"; "toiling coal miners in the black deeps" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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