pick-and-shovel
[pik-uh n-shuhv-uh l]
- marked by drudgery; laborious: the pick-and-shovel work necessary to get a political campaign underway.
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Origin of pick-and-shovel
First recorded in 1890–95
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pick-and-shovel
Historical Examples
I tell her that pick-and-shovel man get fifteen dollars a day in the mines.
Love of LifeJack London
Did you catch and hold the pick-and-shovel men from this camp?
Empire BuildersFrancis Lynde
The professor was not a success as a pick-and-shovel man, though he did his best.
The Lookout ManB. M. Bower
There are no factories shut down through lack of labor, no projected railroads unbuilt for want of pick-and-shovel men.
War of the ClassesJack London
Up from the gravelly, pick-and-shovel labor of the new-made grave it lifts its weirdly magnetic eyes to the Widow's tears.
The Indiscreet LetterEleanor Hallowell Abbott