stoopwork

English

Alternative forms

• stoop work

Etymology

stoop +‎ -work

Noun

stoopwork (uncountable)

1. Unskilled agricultural labor that involves stooping to reach low-growing plants.
   • 1911, United States. Immigration Commission (1907-1910), Immigrants in industries, page 67:

     For some work such as grape picking, beet thinning, and the raising of vegetables and berries, the Japanese have been regarded as physically well adapted to the "stoopwork," as they are short of stature and endure the extreme heat found in a few localities better than most other races.

   • 1968, El Malcriado: Voice of the Farm Worker:

     The growers of California and the Southwest say they need the greencarder to do the stoopwork, but they refuse to pay the wages and grant the conditions which would allow us to work in dignity.

   • 1996, Al Stump -, Cobb: A Biography, page 40:

     To be a farmer meant to do stoopwork and cultivating in ninety-degree heat, side by side with black croppers.

Synonyms

stoop labor