grind
n. C / Un. hard, boring, or repetitive work that you do for a long time to reach a goal. It is often used to talk about working hard every day or playing a game for hours to get a reward.
n. monotonous, laborious, or routine work; in contemporary slang, the dedicated and persistent pursuit of professional or personal success. Often used in gaming contexts to describe the repetitive performance of tasks to gain experience or items.
The daily grind of the office can be very tiring.
He spent the entire weekend on the grind, leveling up his character before the new tournament began.
While the entrepreneurial lifestyle is often romanticized, the reality is a relentless grind of administrative tasks and minor setbacks that test one's long-term commitment to the vision.
From Middle English grynden, from Old English grindan, from Proto-West Germanic grindan, from Proto-Germanic grindaną. Cognate with Saterland Frisian gríende, griene (“to grind, mill”), Dutch grinden (“to grind”, rare) and grind (“gravel, shingle”), Albanian grind (“to brawl, fight”).
From Faroese grind (“pilot-whale meat”).
Usually takes the definite article ('the grind') when referring to daily routine; often used without an article in modern slang contexts ('on his grind').