schlep

American  

[shlep] / ʃlɛp /

Also schlepp sometimes shlep,

verb (used with object)

Slang.

schlepped, schlepping

1. to carry; lug.

   to schlep an umbrella on a sunny day.

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verb (used without object)

Slang.

schlepped, schlepping

1. to move slowly, awkwardly, or tediously.

   We schlepped from store to store all day.

noun

Slang.

1. Also schlepper. someone or something that is tedious, slow, or awkward.

schlep British  

/ ʃlɛp /

verb

1. to drag or lug (oneself or an object) with difficulty

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noun

1. a stupid or clumsy person

2. an arduous journey or procedure

Etymology

Origin of schlep

First recorded in 1910–15; from Yiddish shlepn “to pull, drag, (intransitive) trudge,” from German schleppen, “to draw, tug, haul”; akin to slip ¹, slippery

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Explanation

When you schlep something, you lug or carry it with difficulty. If your taxi can't make it up an icy hill, you might have to schlep your groceries all the way up to your house. If you schlep something, it's either awkward or heavy — or both. You have to pull or drag or tug things when you schlep them. You can also describe an awkward, long, or rough trip as a schlep: "It's such a schlep to get down Grandma's road during mud season." The word has a Yiddish root, shlepen, "to drag," from the Germanic sleifen, also "to drag."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

schlep schlepped schlepping

You can’t beat the price: $9 one way from Framingham and no bags to schlep except carry-ons.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026

She still laughs about it now, whispering to my dad back then, half-horrified, half-amused: “BYOM? They want us to schlep raw meat to their house. Is that… something people do?”

From Salon ● Jan. 27, 2026

Yiddish, the language spoken by Ashkenazi Jews across Europe before the Holocaust, is now perhaps best known to many English speakers through words such as "schlep", "klutz" and "chutzpah".

From Barron's ● Oct. 26, 2025

If there’s a house by Lautner or Neutra or Frank Lloyd Wright, sometimes we’ll take a schlep just for the house, to even just see from the street.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2025

Admittedly, I have to schlep to the rover five times a day to check e-mail.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

In April, more than 100 fund managers schlepped to Newark and boarded a chartered 737 jet with SpaceX’s logo on the tail.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026

I schlepped in oversized bags of flour and sugar to make cranberry-orange and pumpkin-chocolate loaves for Christmas—leaving a fine dusting of powder in the pantry.

From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2026

Lader, 40, described "grabbing babies who were being schlepped across the street, and finding parents who were hysterical that their kids weren't here."

From Barron's ● Mar. 13, 2026

There’s even a Stone of Destiny, schlepped down from Scotland for the occasion.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2023

Then he was schlepped out to the hospital on an emergency helicopter ride because he was close to death … but at the hospital, there he was, sitting at a desk again, doing president stuff.

From Slate ● Jul. 23, 2022

Maybe the best way to understand what Dudamel has meant to L.A. and what L.A. has meant to Dudamel was his unimaginable schlepping of the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

It was inconvenient, half-furnished and somehow still felt oddly cinematic, the way schlepping your lives to a new city can feel cinematic, but only with the right person.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

Portnoy hustles for years, schlepping papers around town in a secondhand van and, on occasion, cleaning poop from one of his newspaper boxes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026

Instead of shopping online or schlepping kids to multiple stores, parents just stop by Dick’s for everything they need.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2026

The days of endlessly schlepping back and forth to church were no longer my problem, and I was lazily sleeping in.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah

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