donkey work
noun
tedious, repetitious work; drudgery.
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donkey work
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donkey-work
donkey-worknoungroundwork
donkey work
American
Also
donkeywork
noun
donkey-work
British
noun
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groundwork
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US equivalent: draft-mule work. drudgery
Etymology
Origin of donkey work
First recorded in 1915–20
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Donkeys and donkey work are essential to the livelihoods of people in developing countries, but elsewhere donkeys have all but disappeared.
From New York Times • Mar. 14, 2023
However, he's played most of the time in the back row for Wasps and he's got to adjust to the donkey work, as it were, needed in the second row.
From BBC • Nov. 23, 2012
This seems an excellent use of a computer to do the donkey work for us, but unfortunately it does not get rid of all the labor.
From Scientific American • Aug. 23, 2011
Workforce beat the old course record by about six lengths, but only beat At First Sight, who'd done the donkey work, by seven lengths, so that horse nearly broke the old course record too.
From The Guardian • Jan. 12, 2011
I can do all the donkey work, but I’ve got no head for business.
From The Phantom Lover by Ayres, Ruby M. (Ruby Mildred)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
