knuckle down

British  

verb

1. informal (intr, adverb) to apply oneself diligently

   to knuckle down to some work

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knuckle down Idioms  

1. Apply oneself seriously to some task or goal, as in The professor insisted that we knuckle down and get our papers in by Friday . Both this term and the rhyming synonym buckle down date from the 1860s, but the precise allusion in either is unclear.

2. See knuckle under .

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Example Sentences

"Obviously things change as you move on but we just want to knuckle down."

From BBC • Jan. 14, 2026

Those in my profession need to knuckle down and do real work.

From Salon • Sep. 7, 2023

"Just really knuckle down, because we don’t want to be one of those teams that’s got to rearrange their schedule because we have COVID," King said.

From Fox News • Dec. 15, 2021

“So this is where I finally said, ‘It’s time to really knuckle down and start making the songs we put together, starting to build a songbook,’ ” says Thomson.

From Washington Post • Oct. 19, 2021

“I’ll tell you what. I’m going to try to make some money. If you knuckle down and pass examinations a year early, why, I’ll help you through college.”

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck