drudging

Adjective

WordNet 3.0

Adjective (1)

doing arduous or unpleasant work“drudging peasants”“the bent backs of laboring slaves picking cotton”“toiling coal miners in the black deeps”Synonyms: laboring labouring toiling

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Drudge \Drudge\ (dr[u^]j), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Drudged (dr[u^]jd); p. pr. & vb. n. Drudging.] [OE. druggen; prob not akin to E. drag, v. t., but fr. Celtic; cf. Ir. drugaire a slave or drudge.] To perform menial work; to labor in mean or unpleasant offices with toil and fatigue. [1913 Webster]

He gradually rose in the estimation of the booksellers for whom he drudged. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]