slave away
Work without rest
To slave away is to work extremely hard for an extended period, often at tedious or exhausting tasks: She slaved away in the kitchen all afternoon, He's been slaving away at that report for weeks.
The phrase emphasizes grueling effort without adequate reward or recognition, invoking the brutal labor demanded of enslaved people.
- drudgeOne doing hard, dull labor
- toilStrenuous, prolonged effort
- overworkToil to exhaustion
- slogLaborious persistent effort
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
grind · work like a dog · nose to the grindstone · servitude · exploitation · burnout · weariness · exhaustion · dead on one's feet · sweat · blood sweat and tears · undervaluation · fatigue · exertion · work one's fingers to the bone · burn the midnight oil · long hours · bust a gut
- workjob, 9 to 5, jobs, labor, employee
- laborlabor, labor union, work, labor force, laborers
- burnoutburned out, burnt out, burn out, burning out, burnout
- Hard Workgrind, hustle, toil, effort, labor
- perseverancepersist, never give up, tenacity, hang in there, endurance