row to hoe
Long work ahead
A row to hoe is a task or burden one must handle, especially a difficult or tedious one: Starting a business with no capital is a tough row to hoe.
The image comes from farming—hoeing weeds from a long row of crops is hard, solitary work.
Usually appears with modifiers like long, tough, or hard.
- furrowNarrow trench in earth
- earthSoil or electrical grounding
- harrowToothed soil-breaking implement
- plowTool for turning soil
- farm workAgricultural manual labor
grit · field · hard work · heavy lifting · labor of love · tenacity · diligence · steadfastness · endurance · struggle · uphill battle · steep climb · long road · persistence · burden · determination · resilience · adversity
difficulty/burden
row to hoepiece of cake
Idiomatic easy task
cakewalk · walk in the park · easy street · breeze · cinch
effort required
row to hoequick fix
Hasty temporary solution
easy win · shortcut · path of least resistance · no sweat · nothing to it