knuckle down
Britishverb
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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.
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See knuckle under .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the parties now had to "knuckle down" and "do the business of government".
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2024
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
