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.

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

on one's shoulders

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

I've seen a great pudding come into the room all afire—just to remind one of the old country—when it has been so hot that one could hardly bear a shirt on one's shoulders.

From Harry Heathcote of Gangoil by Anthony Trollope

One must keep a head on one's shoulders and use one's reason.

From The Witch and other stories by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

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

From Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope

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 George Soper