Plods

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To proceed in a slow and laborious manner often characterized by considerable effort
2. Moves forward with slow, heavy steps that suggest effort or tiredness
3. Travels at a measured, unhurried pace, often seeming weighed down

Etymology: "Plods" is the third-person singular form of "plod", so the verb itself is what needs explaining. Its root image is wet and messy: the Middle English "plodden" probably meant a splash through water and mud, drawn from "plodde" or "pludde", a puddle. Dialect cousins in Scots, Dutch, German and Danish keep that sense of wading through mire, which explains why plodding feels heavy and slow rather than simply walking. The surprising twist is that the most famous "plod" in English is unrelated. British slang for police, "plod", comes from PC Plod, the policeman in Enid Blyton's Noddy books, and is a separate word with a separate origin. The verb owes nothing to him, and its mud-splashing ancestry remains the real story.

Synonyms: trudges, stomps, shuffles

Antonyms: sprints, dashes