attributive and in other combinations, as thrall-folk, thrall-man, thrall-woman, thrall-work; thrall-like adj.

The occupation of a drudge; mean or servile labour; wearisome toil; dull or distasteful work.

Severe toil like that of a slave; heavy labour, hard work, drudgery.

figurative (chiefly depreciatory). Work delegated to a subordinate or done for hire; servile, inferior, or inefficient work; hackwork.

attributive, as in †drudgery work, drudgery servant.

Work carried out by a hack (hack, n.2 4a); spec. paid literary work undertaken for a publisher, editor, etc. Hence in later use: dull, unoriginal…

= dog work n. at compounds 3a.

menial or unpleasant work; spec. = donkey-work n. at donkey, n. compounds 2.

colloquial. Steady hard work; labour of a monotonous kind, esp. close and hard study; an instance of this, a dull and laborious task.

a daily routine of work or activity, esp. as considered to be dull or tiresomely repetitious; the usual day's work or routine, regarded as…

the hard or unattractive part of an undertaking.

The action of clocking in and out of work (cf. to punch the clock at punch, v.1 9a). Hence: dull, monotonous work which requires little skill or…

Time-consuming or labour-intensive work, esp. research, typically involving moving from place to place or providing the material enabling someone…

work considered to be menial or routine; drudgery.

Work done by a Ugandan overseas, esp. that which is low-paid or unskilled. Often as a modifier, as in kyeyo job, kyeyo worker, etc. Cf. nkuba kyeyo…