elbow grease

elbow grease
Effort or hard work, especially physical work involving repeated motion of the forearm, such as scrubbing.

When we were young we used to be told, in our house at home, that "elbow-grease" was the one essential necessary to getting a tough piece of work well done. If a mahogany table was to be made to shine, it was elbow-grease that the operation needed.


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  • Elbow grease — is an old term for working hard at manual labour or trades, as in put some elbow grease into that . It has also been used as a practical joke by master tradesperson on apprentices, e.g. Go fetch some elbow grease from him . Each tradesperson will …   Wikipedia

  • elbow grease — {n.} Exertion; effort; energy. * / You ll have to use a little more elbow grease to get these windows clean, Mother said to Ed./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • elbow grease — {n.} Exertion; effort; energy. * / You ll have to use a little more elbow grease to get these windows clean, Mother said to Ed./ …   Dictionary of American idioms

  • Elbow grease — Elbow El bow, n. [AS. elboga, elnboga (akin to D. elleboga, OHG. elinbogo, G. ellbogen, ellenbogen, Icel. ?lnbogi; prop.; arm bend); eln ell (orig., forearm) + boga a bending. See 1st {Ell}, and 4th {Bow}.] 1. The joint or bend of the arm; the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • elbow grease — If something requires elbow grease, it involves a lot of hard physical work …   The small dictionary of idiomes

  • elbow grease — elbow ,grease noun uncount INFORMAL hard physical work that you do to clean something …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • elbow grease — [n] physical effort effort, exertion, labor, muscle, oomph*, strain, strength, sweat, toil; concepts 87,100,351,360,362 …   New thesaurus

  • elbow grease — ► NOUN informal ▪ hard physical work, especially vigorous polishing or cleaning …   English terms dictionary

  • elbow grease — n. Informal vigorous physical effort …   English World dictionary

  • elbow grease — noun use of physical or mental energy; hard work he got an A for effort they managed only with great exertion • Syn: ↑effort, ↑exertion, ↑travail, ↑sweat • Derivationally related forms: ↑ …   Useful english dictionary

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