"picar piedra" meaning in Spanish

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "to chop stone"
      },
      "expansion": "“to chop stone”",
      "name": "m-g"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "to chop stone"
      },
      "expansion": "Literally, “to chop stone”",
      "name": "lit"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Literally, “to chop stone”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pico piedra",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "present",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "piqué piedra",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "preterite",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "picado piedra",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "picar piedra (first-person singular present pico piedra, first-person singular preterite piqué piedra, past participle picado piedra)",
      "name": "es-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Spanish",
  "lang_code": "es",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Spanish entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "The Catalan Minister of Economy, Andreu Mas-Colell, summed up his vision of the problem with this statement: \"We Catalans have spent three hundred years chipping away [it is understood that against the Spanish State] and most likely we will have to continue to do so for another three hundred years.”",
          "ref": "2018, Josep Maria Colomer, quoting Andreu Mas-Colell, España: la historia de una frustración, Anagrama",
          "text": "El ministro catalán de Economía, Andreu Mas-Colell, resumió su visión del problema con este pronunciamiento: «Nosotros los catalanes hemos estado trescientos años picando piedra [se entiende que contra el Estado español] y lo más probable es que tengamos que seguir haciéndolo durante trescientos años más.»",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to grind out, to chip away (to make a lengthy and laborious effort)"
      ],
      "id": "en-picar_piedra-es-verb-DXzrgTMH",
      "links": [
        [
          "grind out",
          "grind out"
        ],
        [
          "chip away",
          "chip away"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) to grind out, to chip away (to make a lengthy and laborious effort)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "picar piedra"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "to chop stone"
      },
      "expansion": "“to chop stone”",
      "name": "m-g"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "to chop stone"
      },
      "expansion": "Literally, “to chop stone”",
      "name": "lit"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Literally, “to chop stone”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pico piedra",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "present",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "piqué piedra",
      "tags": [
        "first-person",
        "preterite",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "picado piedra",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "picar piedra (first-person singular present pico piedra, first-person singular preterite piqué piedra, past participle picado piedra)",
      "name": "es-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Spanish",
  "lang_code": "es",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Spanish entries with incorrect language header",
        "Spanish idioms",
        "Spanish lemmas",
        "Spanish multiword terms",
        "Spanish terms with quotations",
        "Spanish verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "The Catalan Minister of Economy, Andreu Mas-Colell, summed up his vision of the problem with this statement: \"We Catalans have spent three hundred years chipping away [it is understood that against the Spanish State] and most likely we will have to continue to do so for another three hundred years.”",
          "ref": "2018, Josep Maria Colomer, quoting Andreu Mas-Colell, España: la historia de una frustración, Anagrama",
          "text": "El ministro catalán de Economía, Andreu Mas-Colell, resumió su visión del problema con este pronunciamiento: «Nosotros los catalanes hemos estado trescientos años picando piedra [se entiende que contra el Estado español] y lo más probable es que tengamos que seguir haciéndolo durante trescientos años más.»",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "to grind out, to chip away (to make a lengthy and laborious effort)"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "grind out",
          "grind out"
        ],
        [
          "chip away",
          "chip away"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) to grind out, to chip away (to make a lengthy and laborious effort)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "picar piedra"
}