pick-and-shovel

[ pik-uhn-shuhv-uhl ]

adjective

1. marked by drudgery; laborious:

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of pick-and-shovel¹

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

Did you catch and hold the pick-and-shovel men from this camp?

From Project Gutenberg

And it can be said that never labourer proved himself more worthy of his hire than the pick-and-shovel man of those early days.

From Project Gutenberg

I still wanted to work, but I decided that I didn't want to start life at its pick-and-shovel end—if I could help it.

From Project Gutenberg

I tell her that pick-and-shovel man get fifteen dollars a day in the mines.

From Project Gutenberg

Winton was in the thick of the pick-and-shovel melee, urging it on, when Biggin ran up.

From Project Gutenberg