drudgery

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

drudgery
    n 1: hard monotonous routine work [syn: {drudgery}, {plodding},
         {grind}, {donkeywork}]

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Drudgery \Drudg"er*y\ (dr[u^]j"[~e]r*[y^]), n.
   The act of drudging; disagreeable and wearisome labor;
   ignoble or slavish toil.
   [1913 Webster]

         The drudgery of penning definitions.     --Macaulay.
   [1913 Webster]

         Paradise was a place of bliss . . . without drudgery
         and with out sorrow.                     --Locke.

   Syn: See {Toll}.
        [1913 Webster]

from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

31 Moby Thesaurus words for "drudgery":
      chore, dirty work, donkeywork, employment, fag, fatigue, grind,
      handiwork, handwork, industry, labor, lick, lick of work,
      manual labor, moil, plugging, rat race, scut work, slavery, slog,
      slogging, spadework, stroke, stroke of work, sweat, task,
      tiresome work, toil, travail, treadmill, work

[email protected]