donkey work


Also found in: Idioms.

don′key work`

or don′key•work`,


n.
tedious, repetitious work; drudgery.
[1915–20]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Translations
References in periodicals archive ?
GREG BOLGER loves doing the "donkey work" in Shamrock Rovers' thoroughbred midfield.
CRAIG CURRAN insists he doesn't mind doing the donkey work for Andrew Nelson as long as the rising star fires Dundee to safety.
Do the donkey work through the middle and put the icing on the cake at the end.
Maybe she didn't win as far as she did in Ascot, but she had to do the donkey work today and had to make all the running.
As in football you can do the donkey work, but know your place.
By doing the donkey work now, you'll have a perfect plot ready for planting in spring when the soil warms up.
In order to clarify, Judge Mr Justice Morgan, suggested to him his complaint was: "You were doing the Y donkey work. You Y were out there work-working day in, day out while (Mr Hutcheson) had a cushy number at the office where he was able to abstract personal funds for personal gain.
Far more so than those who do the donkey work out in the streets of Cleveland.
Bearing the perils of a tactical race in mind, Ruby Walsh decided to make the pace on the Andrea and Graham Wylie-owned five-year-old and despite having to do the donkey work, Briar Hill's class shone through.
Especially as you have scores of highly-paid civil servants on hand to do all the donkey work? The West Coast main line was operating perfectly respectably under the stewardship of a proven high-performer in Richard Branson and his trusted Virgin brand.