Other forms: slogging, slogged, slogs
A slog is a long hard piece of work or walking. A hard slog, the last slog, slog through it.
The length is what makes it — a slog is not difficult so much as unrelenting, which is why the last miles of a walk and the middle of a project both get the word. As a verb it also means to hit hard, which is the older sense and survives in cricket. Note slogger.
1nounslogA long hard piece of work or walking.
“The last few kilometres uphill were a real slog in the heat.”
2verbhitTo hit hard.
“The batsman slogged the ball high over the fence for six.”
slog is hard work.
Slog is probably a variant of slug, to hit hard. The sense of hard plodding came from the hitting.
Built from
Probably a variation of slug (“to hit very hard”) or slough. Possibly related to slag, seen in the North Germanic languages, in association with the third verb and second noun definition.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA