"work like a horse" meaning in All languages combined

See work like a horse on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Audio: En-au-work like a horse.ogg [Australia] Forms: works like a horse [present, singular, third-person], working like a horse [participle, present], worked like a horse [participle, past], worked like a horse [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} work like a horse (third-person singular simple present works like a horse, present participle working like a horse, simple past and past participle worked like a horse)
  1. (simile, idiomatic, informal) To work very hard; to toil. Tags: idiomatic, informal Synonyms: work like a dog, work like a mule, work like a nailer, work like a Trojan Related terms: workhorse, piss like a racehorse, eat like a horse Translations (to work very hard; toil): dolgozik, mint egy ló (Hungarian), kerja lembur bagai kuda (Indonesian), 소처럼 일하다 (socheoreom ilhada) (Korean), harować jak wół [imperfective] (Polish), рабо́тать как ло́шадь (rabótatʹ kak lóšadʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), рабо́тать как вол (rabótatʹ kak vol) (Russian), trabajar como un condenado (Spanish), dar el callo (Spanish), batirse el cobre (Spanish), quần quật (Vietnamese)

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "works like a horse",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "working like a horse",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "worked like a horse",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "worked like a horse",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "work like a horse (third-person singular simple present works like a horse, present participle working like a horse, simple past and past participle worked like a horse)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English positive polarity items",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Indonesian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Korean translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Vietnamese translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To work very hard; to toil."
      ],
      "id": "en-work_like_a_horse-en-verb-ipYW9ZtA",
      "links": [
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "toil",
          "toil"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, idiomatic, informal) To work very hard; to toil."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "workhorse"
        },
        {
          "word": "piss like a racehorse"
        },
        {
          "word": "eat like a horse"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "work like a dog"
        },
        {
          "word": "work like a mule"
        },
        {
          "word": "work like a nailer"
        },
        {
          "word": "work like a Trojan"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "lang_code": "hu",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "word": "dolgozik, mint egy ló"
        },
        {
          "code": "id",
          "lang": "Indonesian",
          "lang_code": "id",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "word": "kerja lembur bagai kuda"
        },
        {
          "code": "ko",
          "lang": "Korean",
          "lang_code": "ko",
          "roman": "socheoreom ilhada",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "word": "소처럼 일하다"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "harować jak wół"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "rabótatʹ kak lóšadʹ",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "рабо́тать как ло́шадь"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "rabótatʹ kak vol",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "word": "рабо́тать как вол"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "word": "trabajar como un condenado"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "word": "dar el callo"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "word": "batirse el cobre"
        },
        {
          "code": "vi",
          "lang": "Vietnamese",
          "lang_code": "vi",
          "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
          "word": "quần quật"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-work like a horse.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/23/En-au-work_like_a_horse.ogg/En-au-work_like_a_horse.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/En-au-work_like_a_horse.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "work like a horse"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "works like a horse",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "working like a horse",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "worked like a horse",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "worked like a horse",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "work like a horse (third-person singular simple present works like a horse, present participle working like a horse, simple past and past participle worked like a horse)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "workhorse"
    },
    {
      "word": "piss like a racehorse"
    },
    {
      "word": "eat like a horse"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English positive polarity items",
        "English similes",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Hungarian translations",
        "Terms with Indonesian translations",
        "Terms with Korean translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Vietnamese translations"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To work very hard; to toil."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "toil",
          "toil"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(simile, idiomatic, informal) To work very hard; to toil."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-work like a horse.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/23/En-au-work_like_a_horse.ogg/En-au-work_like_a_horse.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/En-au-work_like_a_horse.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "work like a dog"
    },
    {
      "word": "work like a mule"
    },
    {
      "word": "work like a nailer"
    },
    {
      "word": "work like a Trojan"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "lang_code": "hu",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "word": "dolgozik, mint egy ló"
    },
    {
      "code": "id",
      "lang": "Indonesian",
      "lang_code": "id",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "word": "kerja lembur bagai kuda"
    },
    {
      "code": "ko",
      "lang": "Korean",
      "lang_code": "ko",
      "roman": "socheoreom ilhada",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "word": "소처럼 일하다"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "harować jak wół"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "rabótatʹ kak lóšadʹ",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "рабо́тать как ло́шадь"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "rabótatʹ kak vol",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "word": "рабо́тать как вол"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "word": "trabajar como un condenado"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "word": "dar el callo"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "word": "batirse el cobre"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "lang_code": "vi",
      "sense": "to work very hard; toil",
      "word": "quần quật"
    }
  ],
  "word": "work like a horse"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.