elbow grease

American  

noun

1. strenuous physical exertion.

   a job requiring elbow grease.

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elbow grease British  

noun

1. facetious vigorous physical labour, esp hard rubbing

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elbow grease Cultural  

1. Strenuous physical effort: “If you're going to get this job done, you'll need to apply a little elbow grease.”

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elbow grease Idioms  

1. Strenuous physical effort, as in You'll have to use some elbow grease to get the house painted in time. This term alludes to vigorous use of one's arm in cleaning, polishing, or the like. It soon was extended to any kind of hard work, and Anthony Trollope used it still more figuratively (Thackeray, 1874): “Forethought is the elbow-grease which a novelist ... requires.” [First half of 1600s]

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Etymology

Origin of elbow grease

First recorded in 1630–40