drubbing (drubing)

[Verbal n. of drub, v.] A cudgeling; a sound beating. drudgel (druj), v. i.; pret. and pp. drudged, ppr. drudging. [ME. druggen, work hard; said to be of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. drugaire, a slave or drudge, drugaireachd, slavery, drudgery; but these forms are prob. of E. origin. Cf. drug2, a drudge, Sc. drug, pull forcibly, drug, a rough pull, E. dial. drug, a timber-carriage, drudge2, a large rake, as a verb, harrow, = E. dredgel. The word is thus prob. ult. IMG:content-0028.png:[blocks in formation] He profreth his servyse To drugge and drawe. Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 558. Fair are your Words, as fair your Carriage; Let me be free, drudge you in Marriage. Prior, The Mice. Can it be that a power of Intellect so unmeasured and exhaustle in its range has been brought into being merely to drudge for an animal existence? Channing , Perfect Life, p. 159. drudgel (druj), n. [ drudgel , v. See drug2.] One who toils, especially at servile or mechanical labor; one who labors hard in servile or uninteresting employments; a spiritle toiler. Another kind of bondman they have, when a vile drudge , being a poor labourer in another country, doth choose of his own free will to be a bondman among them. Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. 8. I can but wait upon you, And be your drudge ; keep a poor life to serve you. Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, iii. 2. How did the toiling ox his death deserve, A downright simple drudge , and born to serve? Dryden, Pythagorean Philos., 1. 177. drudge (druj), n. [E. dial., ult. = dredge1 , n.] 1. A large rake. Hall i well . [Prov. Eng.] -2. A dredge.