peg away

present singular third person pegs away · participle present pegging away · participle past pegged away · past pegged away

1. informalTo keep working (at something).

   You are tired now and you find it hard, but you peg away.

   1956 February, W. A. Tuplin, “Hot Work on a "Star"”, in Railway Magazine, page 94

   2 more examples

   ‘Art's the only thing I care for, I'm willing to give my whole life to it. It's only a question of sticking to it and pegging away.’

   1915, W. Somerset Maugham, chapter 37, in Of Human Bondage

   In very rare cases, when the matrix just goes on pegging away automatically, the doctor can take advantage of that and ease out the second brat who then can be considered to be, say, three minutes younger [...].

   1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 296

2. archaicslangTo depart hastily; peg it; scram.