drudge
/drʌdʒ/ (bre, ipa) · /drʌdʒ/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈdrəj/ (ame, mw)
drudge — noun
- drudgesingular
- drudgesplural
1. someone who is stuck with dull, tiring jobs that other people value little.
someone who is stuck with dull, tiring jobs that other people value little.
After lunch, Gabriel was still the office drudge, sorting broken printers alone.
office drudge doing routine low-status tasks
The film shows a kitchen drudge washing pans while guests laugh upstairs.
kitchen drudge doing repetitive chores
For years, Sayaka felt like the family's drudge, cleaning and carrying every bag.
When the owners changed the work schedule, nobody asked the warehouse drudge for input.
- boss
the person giving orders instead of doing the lowest tasks
- decision-maker
someone whose ideas carry weight rather than being ignored
文法句型
be a drudge in + workplace/family
feel like + a drudge
用法筆記
Strongly negative. It describes a person trapped in repetitive, low-status work, not simply someone who works hard.
drudge — verb
- drudgepresent simple I / you / we / they
- drudges3rd person singular
- drudging-ing form
- drudgedpast simple
1. to spend a long time doing dull, tiring work with little reward.
to spend a long time doing dull, tiring work with little reward.
Imran drudged through tax forms until midnight at the front desk.
drudge through + task
All summer, Evelyn drudged in the laundry room above the hot dryers.
drudge in + workplace
The interns drudged away in silence while the managers planned the launch.
Caio drudged through the same data sheet again after the printer jam.
- toil
broader and not always as repetitive or degrading
- slave away
more informal and strongly stresses overwork
- grind
often used for tiring effort but can be less formal
文法句型
drudge through + task
drudge away + at + work
用法筆記
Often appears with through or away to stress that the work feels slow, repetitive, and never-ending. It usually describes routine labour rather than one difficult challenge.
常見錯誤
2. to make someone spend their time on dull, tiring work.
to make someone spend their time on dull, tiring work.
The aunt drudged Roya with kitchen chores while the cousins played outside.
drudge + someone + with + task
Mean supervisors drudged new staff on weekend stock counts for months.
drudge + someone + on + duty
At the camp, older boys drudged Henry with firewood runs all afternoon.
The gang drudged the boy with alley sweeping while they played cards.
文法句型
drudge + someone + with + task
drudge + someone + on + duty/job
用法筆記
This rare transitive use takes a person as the object and suggests unfair power over them. It often adds with or on before the task that is being forced on the person.