work like a Trojan

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work like a beaver

To work very intently, persistently, and assiduously. A reference to beavers' reputation of being extremely industrious. I worked like a beaver the entire summer after high school to earn enough cash to buy my first guitar. The kids are all working like beavers to get the pageant ready in time.

See also: beaver, like, work

work like a Trojan

To work very intensely for a long or continuous period of time, especially doing something thankless or menial. The boss had us working like Trojans to get the project ready on time. I worked like a Trojan the entire summer after high school to earn enough cash to buy my first guitar. I've been out here working like a Trojan while you sit inside sipping lemonade. Could you maybe lend me a hand?

work like a beaver

and work like a mule; work like a horse; work like a slave

Fig. to work very hard. She has an important deadline coming up, so she's been working like a beaver. You need a vacation. You work like a slave in that kitchen. I'm too old to work like a horse. I'd prefer to relax more.

See also: beaver, like, work

work like a beaver

Also, work like a dog or horse or Trojan . Work very energetically and hard, as in She worked like a beaver to clean out all the closets, or I've been working like a dog weeding the garden, or He's very strong and works like a horse. The first of these similes is the oldest, first recorded in 1741; the variants date from the second half of the 1800s. Also see work one's fingers to the bone.

See also: beaver, like, work

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

work like a beaver

work steadily and industriously. informal

The beaver is referred to here because of the industriousness with which it constructs the dams necessary for its aquatic dwellings. The image is similarly conjured up by the phrase beaver away meaning ‘work hard’.

See also: beaver, like, work

work like a Trojan

work extremely hard.

1974 Winifred Foley A Child in the Forest She put me to clean out all the fowls' cotes, and I worked at it like a Trojan.

ˌwork like a ˈdog/ˈslave/ˈTrojan

(informal) work very hard: She worked like a slave to pass her exams. OPPOSITE: not do a stroke (of work)

See also: dog, like, slave, Trojan, work

Trojan, he is a/works like a/a regular

A determined, energetic individual; hardworking. The term comes from Homer’s description of the Trojans in the Iliad and Virgil’s description in the Aeneid. In both epics they are pictured as brave patriots who work hard for their country. This view was adopted by later writers, such as Samuel Butler, who wrote (Hudibras, 1663), “There they say right, and like true Trojans.”