Frank J. Wilstach, comp. A Dictionary of Similes. 1916.

Work

Work like a horse.
—Anonymous

Worked like a fury.
—Anonymous

Worked like a Trojan.
—Anonymous

Worked like a miner in a landslide.
—Anonymous

Work like beavers.
—Anonymous

Working like the gills of a fish.
—O. Henry

Work like a galley slave.
—Vincent Stuckey Lean (Collectanea)

Work like a brick.
—John Lyly