workhorse
12
3.5
- noun
- /ˈwɜrkˌhɔrs/
:
caballo de batalla
- The man's English was poor, but he was a competent workhorse in the lab.
And what this lab did is it took one of the workhorse organisms of molecular biology.
- And what this lab did is it took one of the workhorse organisms of molecular biology.
- These are just great workhorse type lip products, great for those super dry, chapped lips.
- These things, if we pay attention to them and we don't treat our body as if it's just a workhorse for our mind to do whatever the hell it wants with.
- Maybe it's watching the most toxic person get advanced and get accolades and watching the real workhorses remain unseen.
- All right, the award this year is going to the most underappreciated, yet most used, biggest workhorse type product in my collection.
- Second thing I learned, there are workhorses in that government and there are show horses in that government.
- It's the most sensitive radio telescope on Earth of these wavelengths to date, and it's an absolute workhorse.
- And these are the basic workhorse of life.
- They're plants that I lean heavily on as being just the workhorse kind of powerhouse plants.
- You know, I was, I was, you know, built as a workhorse.
- You have such a capacity, you're such a workhorse that you've never hit that place?
Examples
-
In our office, the printer is a real workhorse, handling thousands of pages each month without any issues.
-
Not elite, but certainly a workhorse running back that can get the job done, no?
Blog text (18) -
Although it was the workhorse of Roman surveying, this arrangement was not easy to use in the field.
Academic text (2003) -
I purchased my KA in 1992, and it's been a workhorse since then.
Blog text (6) -
Proteins are the workhorses of what have cells doing what they're supposed to do.
-
But it was the knarr that was the workhorse of the Viking explorers.
Fiction book (2002) -
Many of the advancements have gone largely unnoticed by U.S. drivers, who still view diesels as workhorses for large trucks.
Academic text (2006) -
First built in the 1970s, the CFM56 is a workhorse of the commercial aviation fleet, powering the Boeing 737 and Airbus A340.
Academic text (2009) -
The C-130 planes are known as the workhorse of the military, providing reliable transport for troops and supplies.
-
The old tractor was the workhorse of the farm, helping us with daily tasks like plowing and harvesting.
Synonyms
206
7.2
A person who works very quickly and without stopping
33
1.3
A person who puts a lot of effort into their job or tasks
1
6.9
An experienced reliable person who has worked in a job for a long time
A person who keeps working for long hours at boring tasks
Antonyms
How Dependable
Surface Forms
Morphology
workhorse = work + horse (semi-transparent) = work + horse
The figurative sense is a clear metaphorical extension from a literal 'horse used for work' to a person or machine that performs heavy routine work, so learners can often infer the meaning but it is metaphorical rather than strictly compositional.
Etymology
Workhorse joins the two simple parts work and horse and first named a real horse that did heavy farm jobs. Now it means a person or machine that does a lot of hard, steady work, so imagine a strong helper that keeps going.