donkey work 
noun [mass noun] British informal
The boring or laborious part of a job; drudgery: supervisors who get a research student to do the donkey work...
- As the vast majority of his work was formulaic, this method saved a great deal of donkey work, while at the same time, it served as theory exercises for his pupils.
- The donkey work of this book was done by a ghostwriter.
- The donkey work had been done - the intricate brushing away of thousands of years of dust and soil was a task undertaken by the steady handed experts.
Synonyms
work, effort, endeavour, toil, labour, exertion, graft, the sweat of one's brow, drudgery
informal slog
Australian/New Zealand informal yakka
- false bottom
- false card
- false colour
- false consciousness
- false coral snake
- false cypress
- false dawn
- false economy
- false face
- false friend
- false fruit
- false gharial
- false-hearted
- false hellebore
- false helleborine
- falsehood
- false imprisonment
- falsely
- false mastic
- false memory
- false memory syndrome
- false modesty
- false move
- false negative
- falseness