hewers of wood and drawers of water
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
People who do menial or unskilled labor
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
những người làm công việc tay chân hoặc không có kỹ năng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: people who cut wood and carry water
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company views its interns as mere hewers of wood and drawers of water
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “hewers of wood and drawers of water” mean?
People who do menial or unskilled labor Literally: people who cut wood and carry water
Is “hewers of wood and drawers of water” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.