backbreaking
Of work, very physically tiring.
Adjective
- Of work, very physically tiring.
- A few keen enginemen, such as Driver Rosewarne of York, could coax good work out of them when engaged in heavy East Coast express service, but to most footplate crews, especially firemen, they were rather heartbreaking...
- Ahead [...] each woman is stooped beneath a backbreaking load of firewood. - 2019, Maaza Mengiste, The Shadow King, Canongate Books (2020), page 110:
Origin
From back + breaking.