to beaver away

Examples

• All

• It's another to expect its workers to continue merrily beavering away for your benefit while you don't pay them, instead of their getting a job doing something different.

  Blog text (25)

• She has been beavering away on her final project for weeks, determined to make it perfect.

• Even if only simple cells lived on that world, they had been beavering away for a long time to good purpose.

  Fiction book (2001)

• I should have guessed you two professionals would be here early and beavering away.

  Inland Empire (2006)

• We're just beavering away at the table doing some worky bits.

• Isobel works harder than any woman I know, which is saying something in Scotland because all the women beaver away endlessly.

  Fiction book (1990)

• At the moment, for example, one of my research students, John Worsfold, who is working on slavery and race in the early National South, is beavering away in the South Carolina and Georgia archives.

  Academic text (1993)

• Alongside my unusual day job, I have recently been beavering away, creating a substantial human science research project for Sir Ranulph Fiennes's coming Antarctica winter expedition, in partnership with Michael Stroud, physician, world-renowned extreme physiologist, and a member of the Order of the British Empire.

  Blog text (7)

• The team is beavering away to meet the upcoming deadline for their new product launch.

• Every Saturday, he spends hours beavering away in his workshop, crafting unique wooden toys.

Synonyms

W

to work like a dog

vsto beaver away

• Informal

8 3.4

Spend a lot of time doing hard, tiring tasks

implies hard persistent work but without the emphasis on lack of reward

P

to plug away

vsto beaver away

• Informal

6 5.2

To work slowly and steadily on a difficult task

emphasizes long sustained effort rather than just steady determination

H

to hammer away at

vsto beaver away

• Informal

5 4.8

To work hard for a long time on something

focuses more on steady long effort rather than repeated forceful attempts

W

to work away

vsto beaver away

5 3.7

To keep doing a job or task without stopping for a long time

adds a sense of strong, effortful persistence rather than simple continuation

K

to keep one's nose to the grindstone

vsto beaver away

• Informal

1 7.7

To work hard for a long time on a difficult task without stopping

leans more toward steady long labour than intense hardship or exhaustion

B

to beaver

vsto beaver away

• UK

1 7.0

To work very hard for a long time

is the same in meaning but used as a phrasal verb form

P

to peg away

vsto beaver away

• UK

8.6

To keep working for a long time on something difficult or boring

highlights long continued effort more than short bursts of work

S

to slug away at

vsto beaver away

• Informal

6.3

To keep working hard on a difficult or long task

stresses continuous effort over time rather than sudden intense work

Antonyms

G

to give up

∞ 1.2

To stop trying to do something or accept defeat

S

to slack off

• Informal

3 3.9

To become less strong or busy

How Hard

to slave

47 5.3

to beaver away

• UK

1 6.4

hard work

355 1.6

work

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

Etymology