pick-and-shovel

[ pik-uh n-shuhv-uh l ]

/ ˈpɪk ənˈʃʌv əl /

marked by drudgery; laborious: the pick-and-shovel work necessary to get a political campaign underway.

QUIZZES

Take this quiz to see if you really know the difference between “compliment” and “complement"!

Question 1 of 11

“Compliment” and “complement” had a shared meaning a long time ago, but today they are no longer interchangeable.

First recorded in 1890–95

The professor was not a success as a pick-and-shovel man, though he did his best.
The Lookout Man|B. M. Bower
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.
The Trail of '98|Robert W. Service
Did you catch and hold the pick-and-shovel men from this camp?
Empire Builders|Francis Lynde
Winton was in the thick of the pick-and-shovel melee, urging it on, when Biggin ran up.
A Fool For Love|Francis Lynde

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 Letter|Eleanor Hallowell Abbott