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• Many hands make light work
  Many hands make light work

  Large tasks become small when divided among several people.
• many hands make light work
  many hands make light work

  More helpers make a task easier, as in We need a few more volunteers to move the furniture—many hands make light work, you know. This proverb was first recorded in English in the early 1300s in a knightly romance known as Sir Bevis of Hampton. It appeared in practically all proverb collections from 1546 on. For the converse, see too many cooks spoil the broth.

Many hands make light work

Cultural  

1. Large tasks become small when divided among several people.

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many hands make light work Idioms  

1. More helpers make a task easier, as in We need a few more volunteers to move the furniture—many hands make light work, you know. This proverb was first recorded in English in the early 1300s in a knightly romance known as Sir Bevis of Hampton. It appeared in practically all proverb collections from 1546 on. For the converse, see too many cooks spoil the broth.

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Example Sentences

At home, they’re often made over the holidays, as many hands make light work.

From New York Times • Mar. 22, 2021

I’ve learned that I always create a club or a family around me, because I understand so well the precept that many hands make light work.

From The Guardian • Feb. 2, 2017

On assembly lines and at construction sites, in offices and around operating tables, many hands make light work.

From Time Magazine Archive

The adage that many hands make light work was never better exemplified than on that July day in the berry pasture.

From Peggy Raymond's Vacation or Friendly Terrace Transplanted by Harriet L.

An hour's toil produced but a few feathery filings on the horizontal plate, but many hands make light work, and steadily the cut grew deeper.

From Famous Adventures And Prison Escapes of the Civil War by Cable, George Washington