Slogging

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To commit to a demanding and taxing task that requires significant effort and stamina while pushing through fatigue and difficulty
2. Engaging in sustained and laborious physical or mental work ; moving forward by walking with difficulty and persistence
3. Performing a task that demands continuous and strenuous effort ; advancing on foot through tough conditions requiring endurance

Etymology: "Slogging" is the present participle and gerund of "slog," a verb whose history is murky. The most likely source is "slug," in its old sense of striking something very hard, and the link makes sense: to slog was once to hit with force, and the sense of pounding away steadily at a task grew out of that image of repeated heavy blows. An alternative proposal connects it to "slough," a word for a swamp or muddy ground, which would make slogging a matter of wading through mire. The source also suggests a possible relation to "slag," the waste matter from smelting, seen in North Germanic languages, though that connection is less certain. Whichever root is right, the idea of effort as a punishing physical struggle runs through the word. Today it describes plodding labour, such as slogging through paperwork or slogging up a steep hill, where the strain is the point rather than any particular skill or speed.

Synonyms: struggling, laboring, toiling, trudging, plodding

Antonyms: gliding, floating