peg away at

Idioms  

1. Also, plug away at. Work steadily, persist, as in She pegged away at the tax return until she'd finished, or If we keep plugging away at it, the painting will soon be done. These idioms allude to the persistence required to fasten something by driving pegs or seal something by driving a plug. Peg away dates from the early 1800s plug away from the mid-1900s.

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Example Sentences

Thus the sensitive artist, for the sake of his ideal, will peg away at the forlorn hope, and, sustained by the spirit, may bring off the thousand-to-one chance.

From Spirit and Music by Hunt, H. Ernest

"Heaven grant that they may be of a kind sufficiently noxious for the doctor to let me peg away at them!"

From Five Weeks in a Balloon by Verne, Jules

For the moment, I must peg away at what I have in hand—biggish stuff, I fear, in bulk and possible unserialisability, to saddle you withal.

From The Letters of Henry James (volume I) by James, Henry

Well, other briefless barristers peg away at journalism, and political agency work, and coaching, and studying.

From Winding Paths by Page, Gertrude

And to have to do it every day for a whole term, and peg away at scales and arpeggios!

From The Girls of St. Cyprian's A Tale of School Life by Brazil, Angela