n. 25B6; noun GROUNDWORK, preliminary work, preliminaries, preparatory measures, preparations, planning, foundations; hard work, donkey work, labour, drudgery, toil; informal grind; Brit. informal graft.
SPADEWORK
Meaning of SPADEWORK in English
Concise Oxford thesaurus English vocabulary. Краткий оксфордский словарь английского языка тезаурус. 2012