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

The report highlights China’s control of obscure areas of industry, such as the foundational semiconductor chips that are the “workhorse components that drive the modern economy and a modern military.”

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The enhanced clarity is why VistaVision hung on longer with the makers of old-school optical effects, serving as a workhorse for the original “Star Wars” trilogy and other pictures into the 21st century.

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In the near term, Fermi bets it can quickly add infrastructure for natural gas, the workhorse of the U.S. power grid that supplies about 40% of the nation’s electricity.

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"Germanium is already a workhorse material for advanced semiconductor technologies, so by showing it can also become superconducting under controlled growth conditions there's now potential for scalable, foundry-ready quantum devices."

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Boeing BA 0.15%increase; green up pointing triangle said it is making more of its workhorse 737 MAX jets with fewer restrictions—despite snags in another aircraft program that could spell trouble ahead.

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