hewers of wood and drawers of water
Americanplural noun
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.
Said he: "We cannot and will not remain merely hewers of wood and drawers of water."
From Time Magazine Archive
We've always been hewers of wood and drawers of water.
From Time Magazine Archive
The conquered people, in Swift's bitter words of contempt, became "hewers of wood and drawers of water" to their conquerors.
From History of the English People, Volume VII The Revolution, 1683-1760; Modern England, 1760-1767 by Green, John Richard
And the princes said unto them, "Let them live: so they become hewers of wood and drawers of water to all the people;" as the princes had spoken unto them.
From The Bible Story by Hall, Newton Marshall
There must be quarriers before there can be architects: the hewers of wood and drawers of water are the basis of all civilization.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 58, No. 357, July 1845 by Various
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.
