verb / noun

slog

SLOG/slɑːɡ/

Persistent effort to make progress despite difficulty or fatigue.

We slog up the muddy trail despite our aching legs.

An exhausted backpacker laboriously pulls one boot out of deep, sticky mud on a gently uphill trail, with a short line of deep bootprints showing difficult progress.

Etymology

Slog first meant “hit hard” in boxing slang, then developed the senses “work hard” and “walk doggedly.” Its origin is uncertain, though it probably shares a source with slug meaning “strike heavily.”

In context

Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art0:22

someone who really bears the tired eyes of too many hours spent stuck behind a computer screen as I slog to really finish my own book

Synthetic Histories: Plastics, Climate and Colonialism | Session 3

More examples

She slogs through paperwork for hours every afternoon.
Cleaning out the flooded basement was a long slog.
They kept slogging away until the repairs were finished.

Forms

slog · slogs · slogged · slogging

Similar words

toil: Emphasizes strenuous labor rather than slow progress through difficulty.
trudge: Specifically describes slow, heavy walking, often caused by fatigue.
grind: Emphasizes tedious, repetitive work rather than difficult movement.