workhorse

[wurk-hawrs]

noun

1. a horse used for plowing, hauling, and other heavy labor, as distinguished from a riding horse, racehorse, etc.

2. a person who works tirelessly at a task, assumes extra duties, etc.

workhorse

/ ˈwɜːkˌhɔːs /

noun

1. a horse used for nonrecreational activities

2. informal,  a person who takes on the greatest amount of work in a project or job

Word History and Origins

Origin of workhorse¹

First recorded in 1535–45; work + horse

Example Sentences

What Snell hasn’t done, however, is prove himself to be a workhorse.

From Los Angeles Times

SpaceX primarily provides launch services to commercial and military satellite customers with its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which has a payload of up to 23 metric tons.

From Los Angeles Times

You see football like an ideal world when you are out of the game and you would love to work there, and when it becomes your everyday work, it's just a workhorse.

From BBC

E. coli is the field's main "workhorse" says Prof Wallace, who has also genetically engineered it in the lab to turn plastic waste into vanilla flavour and fatberg waste from sewers into perfume.

From BBC

“The thing that makes it a workhorse for urban forests,” says Vejar, “is also what makes cities have to pay out millions in lawsuits from people tripping, ADA violations and such.”

From Los Angeles Times