drudge

From Middle English druggen, which is possibly related to Old English drēogan (“to do; to suffer”).

• IPA^(key): /dɹʌd͡ʒ/

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• Rhymes: -ʌdʒ

drudge (plural drudges)

1. A person who works in a low servile job.

   drudge work

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

• drudgery
• drudgy

• dree
• adree

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.

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “drudge”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.