on one's shoulders

Idioms  

1. As one's responsibility, as in The king carries his entire country on his shoulders, or The success of the conference rests on Nancy's shoulders. This metaphoric use of shoulders as the burden-bearing part of the body dates from the late 1300s.

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Example Sentences

That was the curse of dreaming: One woke to pallid reality, with neither wings on one’s shoulders nor goddess in one’s arms.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

One's days are too brief to take the burden of another's sorrows on one's shoulders.

From Miscellaneous Aphorisms; The Soul of Man by Wilde, Oscar

When one has an old man on one's shoulders one never can get rid of him.

From Phineas Redux by Trollope, Anthony

Instead of one bundle, one has two on one's shoulders, you understand?

From Yiddish Tales by Various

It must be remembered that we were all clad to keep out extreme cold, and that a buffalo coat is a pretty heavy weight to have on one’s shoulders even under ordinary circumstances.

From Dick Onslow Among the Redskins by Soper, George