"beaver away" meaning in English

See beaver away in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-beaver away.ogg Forms: beavers away [present, singular, third-person], beavering away [participle, present], beavered away [participle, past], beavered away [past]
Etymology: From the metaphorical image of a person working as industriously as a beaver building its dam. Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} beaver away (third-person singular simple present beavers away, present participle beavering away, simple past and past participle beavered away)
  1. (idiomatic) To work hard at a task. Tags: idiomatic Related terms: eager beaver Translations (to busily undertake): ahkeroida (Finnish), ahertaa (Finnish), uurastaa (Finnish), bûcher (French), მუყაითობს (muq̇aitobs) (Georgian), გარჯა (garǯa) (Georgian), ბეჯითობა (beǯitoba) (Georgian)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From the metaphorical image of a person working as industriously as a beaver building its dam.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "beavers away",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "beavering away",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "beavered away",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "beavered away",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "beaver away (third-person singular simple present beavers away, present participle beavering away, simple past and past participle beavered away)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"away\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Georgian terms with redundant script codes",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with redundant script codes",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "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 Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Georgian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She won't be going out much, as she's beavering away on her thesis.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1979 June 28, “Feedback: Trouble at th’ Laboratory”, in New Scientist, page 1103:",
          "text": "The most obvious impact of the strike was the “havoc” created at Glasgow and London’s Heathrow airports by striking air traffic controllers (who joined the strike in solidarity and are not themselves directly involved in the dispute). But quietly and without fuss, thousands of scientists normally beavering away in seclusion downed microscopes, test tubes, and oscilloscopes.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Michael Francis Atiyah, An Interview with Michael Atiyah: Collected Works: Volume 1: Early Papers, General Papers, page 299:",
          "text": "I was thinking more of the tendency today for people to develop whole areas of mathematics on their own, in a rather abstract fashion. They just go on beavering away.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Michael Coulson, An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector, published 2011, unnumbered page:",
          "text": "On the other side there was a floor to ceiling partition, on which the mining share prices and dealing boards were fixed, separating the mining sales desk from the specialist mining research group who beavered away behind the partition.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To work hard at a task."
      ],
      "id": "en-beaver_away-en-verb-AGJOO0wR",
      "links": [
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "hard",
          "hard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To work hard at a task."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "eager beaver"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to busily undertake",
          "word": "ahkeroida"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to busily undertake",
          "word": "ahertaa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to busily undertake",
          "word": "uurastaa"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "to busily undertake",
          "word": "bûcher"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "muq̇aitobs",
          "sense": "to busily undertake",
          "word": "მუყაითობს"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "garǯa",
          "sense": "to busily undertake",
          "word": "გარჯა"
        },
        {
          "code": "ka",
          "lang": "Georgian",
          "roman": "beǯitoba",
          "sense": "to busily undertake",
          "word": "ბეჯითობა"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-beaver away.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/78/En-au-beaver_away.ogg/En-au-beaver_away.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/En-au-beaver_away.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "beaver away"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From the metaphorical image of a person working as industriously as a beaver building its dam.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "beavers away",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "beavering away",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "beavered away",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "beavered away",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "beaver away (third-person singular simple present beavers away, present participle beavering away, simple past and past participle beavered away)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "eager beaver"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrasal verbs",
        "English phrasal verbs formed with \"away\"",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Georgian terms with redundant script codes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Georgian translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "She won't be going out much, as she's beavering away on her thesis.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1979 June 28, “Feedback: Trouble at th’ Laboratory”, in New Scientist, page 1103:",
          "text": "The most obvious impact of the strike was the “havoc” created at Glasgow and London’s Heathrow airports by striking air traffic controllers (who joined the strike in solidarity and are not themselves directly involved in the dispute). But quietly and without fuss, thousands of scientists normally beavering away in seclusion downed microscopes, test tubes, and oscilloscopes.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1988, Michael Francis Atiyah, An Interview with Michael Atiyah: Collected Works: Volume 1: Early Papers, General Papers, page 299:",
          "text": "I was thinking more of the tendency today for people to develop whole areas of mathematics on their own, in a rather abstract fashion. They just go on beavering away.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Michael Coulson, An Insider’s Guide to the Mining Sector, published 2011, unnumbered page:",
          "text": "On the other side there was a floor to ceiling partition, on which the mining share prices and dealing boards were fixed, separating the mining sales desk from the specialist mining research group who beavered away behind the partition.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To work hard at a task."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "work",
          "work"
        ],
        [
          "hard",
          "hard"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To work hard at a task."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-beaver away.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/7/78/En-au-beaver_away.ogg/En-au-beaver_away.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/En-au-beaver_away.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to busily undertake",
      "word": "ahkeroida"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to busily undertake",
      "word": "ahertaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to busily undertake",
      "word": "uurastaa"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "to busily undertake",
      "word": "bûcher"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "muq̇aitobs",
      "sense": "to busily undertake",
      "word": "მუყაითობს"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "garǯa",
      "sense": "to busily undertake",
      "word": "გარჯა"
    },
    {
      "code": "ka",
      "lang": "Georgian",
      "roman": "beǯitoba",
      "sense": "to busily undertake",
      "word": "ბეჯითობა"
    }
  ],
  "word": "beaver away"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). 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.

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