peg away

English

Verb

peg away (third-person singular simple present pegs away, present participle pegging away, simple past and past participle pegged away)

1. (informal) To keep working at something
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin, published 2011, page 296:

     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 [...].

2. (slang, archaic) To depart hastily; peg it; scram.

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary