pick-and-shovel

American  

[pik-uhn-shuhv-uhl] / ˈpɪk ənˈʃʌv əl /

adjective

1. marked by drudgery; laborious.

   the pick-and-shovel work necessary to get a political campaign underway.

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Etymology

Origin of pick-and-shovel

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Power-generation technology provider GE Vernova remains the best pick-and-shovel stock to play the artificial-intelligence boom.

From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026

In the decades to come, the company, now called Tripp Lite, became a pick-and-shovel business of the digital gold rush.

From Salon • Aug. 24, 2022

When he was 12, Mr. Poitier quit school and became a water boy for a crew of pick-and-shovel laborers.

From New York Times • Jan. 7, 2022

After World War II, the state had 125,000 pick-and-shovel diggers, but machines cut the workforce to around 15,000 today - wiping out the livelihood of 110,000 families.

From Washington Times • Dec. 19, 2018

And I'm not a scholar or a historian; I'm a pick-and-shovel field archaeologist—a highly skilled and specialized grave-robber and junk-picker—and there's more pick-and-shovel work on this planet than I could do in a hundred lifetimes.

From Omnilingual by Freas, Kelly