| 释义 |
elbow grease
elbow greasen. Informal Strenuous physical labor and effort.elbow grease n facetious vigorous physical labour, esp hard rubbing el′bow grease`
n. physical exertion; hard work. [1630–40] elbow greaseGreat physical effort put into doing something.Thesaurus| Noun | 1. |  elbow grease - use of physical or mental energy; hard work; "he got an A for effort"; "they managed only with great exertion"exertion, effort, travail, sweattoil, labor, labour - productive work (especially physical work done for wages); "his labor did not require a great deal of skill"struggle - strenuous effort; "the struggle to get through the crowd exhausted her"difficulty, trouble - an effort that is inconvenient; "I went to a lot of trouble"; "he won without any trouble"; "had difficulty walking"; "finished the test only with great difficulty"least effort, least resistance - the least effortful way to do somethingstraining, strain - an intense or violent exertionexercise, exercising, physical exercise, physical exertion, workout - the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit; "the doctor recommended regular exercise"; "he did some exercising"; "the physical exertion required by his work kept him fit"pull - a sustained effort; "it was a long pull but we made it"diligence, application - a diligent effort; "it is a job requiring serious application"overkill - any effort that seems to go farther than would be necessary to achieve its goalsupererogation - an effort above and beyond the call of dutyoverexertion - excessive exertion; so much exertion that discomfort or injury resultsdetrition, friction, rubbing - effort expended in moving one object over another with pressure |
elbow greasenounInformal. The use of energy to do something:effort, endeavor, exertion, pain (used in plural), strain, striving, struggle, trouble, while.Translationselbow grease
elbow greaseVigorous scrubbing, typically to clean something. You'll never get that rust off without some elbow grease.See also: elbow, greaseelbow greaseFig. hard scrubbing. Tom: What did you use to get your car so shiny? Mary: Just regular wax and some elbow grease. Joe put a lot of elbow grease into cleaning the kitchen.See also: elbow, greaseelbow greaseStrenuous physical effort, as in You'll have to use some elbow grease to get the house painted in time. This term alludes to vigorous use of one's arm in cleaning, polishing, or the like. It soon was extended to any kind of hard work, and Anthony Trollope used it still more figuratively ( Thackeray, 1874): "Forethought is the elbow-grease which a novelist ... requires." [First half of 1600s] See also: elbow, greaseelbow grease Elbow grease is the hard physical work of cleaning something. It took a considerable amount of polish and elbow grease before the brass shone like new. These products are designed to take the elbow grease out of cleaning.See also: elbow, greaseˈelbow grease (informal) the effort used in physical work, especially in cleaning: The bath was so old and stained that we couldn’t get it clean no matter how much elbow grease we used.See also: elbow, greaseelbow-grease n. effort. All this job needs is a little more elbow-grease. elbow grease, to useTo apply physical effort. It has been said that this expression, dating from the seventeenth century, originally referred to a joke played on a new apprentice, who was sent out to a shop to purchase “elbow grease.” Originally meaning simply to use one’s arm vigorously in scrubbing or polishing, it soon was transferred to other kinds of effort as well. “Forethought is the elbow-grease which a novelist—or poet, or dramatist—requires,” said Anthony Trollope (Thackeray, 1874).See also: elbow, useelbow grease
Synonyms for elbow greasenoun the use of energy to do somethingSynonyms- effort
- endeavor
- exertion
- pain
- strain
- striving
- struggle
- trouble
- while
Synonyms for elbow greasenoun use of physical or mental energySynonyms- exertion
- effort
- travail
- sweat
Related Words- toil
- labor
- labour
- struggle
- difficulty
- trouble
- least effort
- least resistance
- straining
- strain
- exercise
- exercising
- physical exercise
- physical exertion
- workout
- pull
- diligence
- application
- overkill
- supererogation
- overexertion
- detrition
- friction
- rubbing
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