sweat blood

1. Also, sweat one's guts out . Work diligently or strenuously, as in The men were sweating blood to finish the roof before the storm hit . The phrase using guts was first used about 1890, and that with blood shortly thereafter.

2. Suffer mental anguish, worry intensely, as in Waiting for the test results, I was sweating blood . This usage was first recorded in a work by D.H. Lawrence in 1924. Both usages are colloquial, and allude to the agony of Jesus in Gethsemane (Luke 22:44): “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

Example Sentences

During the hysterical attacks she sweat blood from the surface of her cheeks and belly.

From Project Gutenberg

That's just it—just the way I figured it—something he knew was risky—something that made him sweat blood.

From Project Gutenberg

He felt slightly nauseated; then a quick, griping pain which was a forerunner of others which were to make him sweat blood.

From Project Gutenberg

All because the old man brings a skirt on board, we have to sweat blood in the forepeak!

From Project Gutenberg

The railroad can't afford to have the courts against it, and McVickar will be made to sweat blood this heat.

From Project Gutenberg