Extremely hard and exhausting, requiring intense physical effort that leaves you completely tired.
Combination of 'back' + 'breaking' (gerund of break). Originated in the 1700s to describe physically demanding labor, literally referring to work so strenuous it could damage the spine.
Farmers and laborers coined this term because they genuinely suffered spinal injuries from bending and lifting—what we use as exaggeration for homework was their daily reality of permanent bodily damage.
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