ˈelbow-grease humorous.
Vigorous rubbing, proverbially referred to as the best unguent for polishing furniture. Hence allusively, energetic labour of any kind.
| 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 5 Two or three brawny Fellows in a Corner, with meer Ink and Elbow-grease, do more Harm than an Hundred systematical Divines with their sweaty Preaching. 1699 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Elbow-grease, a derisory Term for Sweat. 1735 Littleton Lat. Dict., It had no elbow-grease bestowed on't. Nec demorsos sapit ungues. 1879 Trollope Thackeray 122 Forethought is the elbow-grease which a novelist,—or poet, or dramatist,—requires. |