elbow grease

alternative elbow-grease

1. idiomaticuncountableEffort or hard work, especially physical work involving repeated motion of the forearm, such as scrubbing.

   Some soapy water and a little elbow grease and we'll have the Glam Van clean in no time.

   2019, Sunny, “Violet's Adventure”, in Sunny Day

   3 more examples

   It is astonishing what miserable saws are sometimes used by mechanics, or those claiming to be such. The only way they can be coaxed or driven through the wood is by having an enormous set, a liberal use of oil, and another lubricator called elbow-grease.

   1864, Henry Wells Holly, chapter 3, in The Art of Saw-Filing, page 12

   When we were young we used to be told, in our house at home, that "elbow-grease" was the one essential necessary to getting a tough piece of work well done. If a mahogany table was to be made to shine, it was elbow-grease that the operation needed.

   1879, Anthony Trollope, chapter 5, in William Makepeace Thackeray

   If the F.R. ever expands its administration to include a statistician, his figure for net foot-pounds of elbow grease per trailing ton-mile are going to look quite impressive.

   1958 July 28, R. K. Kirkland, “Into the Mountains on the Festiniog Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 450

   Synonyms: elbow juice