back-breaking

back-breaking

Extremely difficult and exhausting; mentally or physically taxing, to the point of feeling like one's body or spirit will break. Though usually used in reference to physical labor, it can refer figuratively to any job, activity, or task. After 10 years of back-breaking labor in construction, I've decided to finally pursue academia. We put in months of back-breaking work to get ready for our exams in May.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • put in a hard day's work
  • the worse for wear
  • worse for wear
  • suck (one) dry
  • suck someone dry
  • bruised and battered
  • heave up
  • put in a hard day at work
  • be all the worse for wear
  • all the worse for wear
References in periodicals archive
We have broken the back of back-breaking inflation.aACA[yen]
Or why only the poor bend over to this back-breaking task.
Because it's back-breaking getting little ones in and out of the back seat without them.
THIS is regarding the report 'Back-breaking burden for our schoolchildren' (GDN ,May 10).
We would like to thank the residents who donated slabs and Lol and Dave who did the back-breaking work.
The drive was 'back-breaking' said motorists, adding that they did not mind using Garhoud and Safa toll gates to reach their work places faster.
Chilling though the battle between Batman and The Joker is (it carries a parental advisory warning because of its sickening scenes of torture) it comes a close second behind the back-breaking Bane story arc.
And, interestingly, it is the women who are doing the bulk of the back-breaking work including fixing broken tiles, scrubbing windows and re-painting the doors.
The back-breaking physical work was to be expected; the relentless hazing from colleagues, the abuse by clients who apparently had nothing better to do, and the bizarre propositions from gays and straights alike dogged him relentlessly.
Not only does the Garden Groom save the back-breaking task of picking up the trimmings, it will save up to 40 percent in the time it takes to trim.
Within six years, Shirley and her sisters and brothers in DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) had revamped the state's antiquated payroll system, won nearly $100,000 in back pay and, by 1996, made Rhode Island the only state in the country to offer fully paid health insurance to women who perform the back-breaking work of caring for other people's children.
These are packed with reusable stickers and offer the opportunity to learn about wildlife and nature, get them away from the telly and maybe help the grown-ups with a bit of the back-breaking stuff.
It is grueling, back-breaking work--the sort that most of us born in the United States would never do for any amount of money.
Are we to forget the past years when Labour, in power, gave us the highest rates in the country, the Loftus bank and Skinningrove floods debacles, plus many idiotic schemes, like back-breaking humps on Redcar front and the demise of Redcar as a main shopping area, plus millions of pounds wasted on many regeneration projects?