Meaning
Informal verb meaning to drag or haul something cumbersome, or to make a long, tedious journey oneself; as a noun it names such a trip, and in older American slang also a clumsy or tedious person. It entered English through Yiddish and keeps a down-to-earth, self-deprecating flavor, heard far more in speech than in formal writing. Casual and self-mocking; natural in conversation and informal writing, out of place in formal prose. Regional use: American English, now general (Yiddish loan).
Origin
From Yiddish shlepn, 'to drag, pull, or trudge', itself from Middle High German sleppen and Middle Low German slepen, cognate with German schleppen, 'to drag or haul'. Merriam-Webster gives that chain and dates the English verb to 1911; Dictionary.com records it 1910-15, and the OED likewise places earliest verbal evidence in the 1910s. The word arrived with the great wave of Yiddish-speaking immigrants to American cities and spread into general informal use across the twentieth century, adding the noun senses of an arduous errand and, loosely, a tiresome person.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- schlepp
- shlep
- shlepp
Usage Examples
- I am not schlepping this printer up three flights of stairs twice.
- It is a forty-minute schlep from the ferry to the trailhead, so pack light.
- She schlepped the presentation boards across Manhattan in the rain.