drudge

English

Etymology

From Middle English druggen, perhaps from Old English *dryċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *druggjan, from Proto-Germanic *drugjaną, a denominative built to a lost noun *drugjaz (preserved in Old English Dryċġhelm), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ-; compare Old English drēogan (“to do; to suffer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɹʌd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌdʒ

Noun

drudge (plural drudges)

1. (also attributively) A person who works in a low servile job.

   Synonyms: peon, minion

   drudge work

2. (derogatory) Someone who works for (and may be taken advantage of by) someone else.

Derived terms

• drudgery
• drudgy

Related terms

• dree
• adree

Translations

person who works in a low job

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: raataja (fi), renki (fi)
• French: serf (fr) m, larbin (fr) m, sous-merde (fr) f, moins-que-rien (fr) m
• German: Hiwi (de) m (colloquial), Sklave (de), Lakai (de) m
• Irish: sclábhaí m
• Māori: kaitonotono, wheteke, tia, rōpā, tūmau, tūmou, pāihi
• Polish: wół roboczy m
• Russian: чернорабо́чий (ru) m (černorabóčij), работя́га (ru) m or f (rabotjága)
• Scottish Gaelic: tràill m or f
• Spanish: esclavo (es) m, lacayo (es) m, currito
• Turkish: köle (tr)

person who works for someone else

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: palkkarenki
• French: valet (fr) m, laquais (fr) m, larbin (fr) m
• Polish: wół roboczy m
• Russian: раб (ru) m (rab), рабы́ня (ru) f (rabýnja)
• Scottish Gaelic: tràill m or f

Verb

drudge (third-person singular simple present drudges, present participle drudging, simple past and past participle drudged)

1. (intransitive) To labour in (or as in) a low servile job.
   • 1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv'd:

     Rise to our Toils and drudge away the day.

   • 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:

     He gradually rose in the estimation of the booksellers for whom he drudged.

Derived terms

• drudger
• drudgerie
• drudgework
• drudgingly

Translations

to labour as in a low servile job

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: otročit (cs) impf
• Finnish: raataa (fi)
• Hungarian: gürcöl (hu), robotol (hu)
• Ido: laboregar (io)
• Polish: harować (pl) impf
• Russian: тяну́ть ля́мку (ru) (tjanútʹ ljámku)