"the labor of a drudge; ignoble, spiritless toil," 1540s, from drudge (v.) + -ery.
Entries linking to drudgery
drudge v.
late 14c., druggen, "work hard, especially at servile, monotonous, or uninteresting work," (and compare druggunge, mid-13c.), probably from a variant of Old English dreogan"to work, suffer, endure," from Proto-Germanic *dreugana (source also of Old Saxon driogan, Old Norse drygja "to carry out, accomplish," Gothic driugan "serve as a soldier"). Related: Drudged; drudging. The surname is from 13c., probably unrelated, from Old French dragie "a mixture of grains sown together," thus, a grower of this crop.
-ery
word-forming element making nouns meaning "place for, art of, condition of, quantity of," from Middle English -erie, from Latin -arius (see -ary). Also sometimes in modern colloquial use "the collectivity of" or "an example of."