Elbow grease

{{Short description|English idiom to describe hard work}}

{{Wiktionary}}

Elbow grease is an idiom for manual labour and/or the process of working hard to accomplish an objective.{{Cite web |date=2024-09-29 |title=Definition of ELBOW GREASE |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elbow%20grease |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}

The earliest evidence of the phrase in print was in 1672.{{Cite web |title=elbow grease, n. meanings, etymology, and more {{!}} Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/elbow-grease_n?tl=true}} Andrew Marvell, an English metaphysical poet, used the words in a satirical book about English parliament. Marvell wrote: "Two or three brawny Fellows in a Corner, with mere Ink and Elbow-grease, do more Harm than an Hundred systematical Divines with their sweaty Preaching."{{Cite journal |last=Rahe |first=Paul A. |date=2002 |title=An Inky Wretch: The Outrageous Genius of Marchamont Nedham |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42897442 |journal=The National Interest |issue=70 |pages=55–64 |jstor=42897442 |issn=0884-9382}}

Further uses are attested in the 1670s.{{Cite web |title=elbow {{!}} Etymology of elbow by etymonline |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/elbow |access-date=2024-10-07 |website=www.etymonline.com |language=en}} In 1699, the phrase appeared in the New Dictionary of the Canting Crew defined as "a derisory Term for Sweat".{{cite book |author1=B. E. |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924026564504/page/n61/mode/2up |title=A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew, in its several tribes of Gypsies, beggers, thieves, cheats, &c. with an addition of some proverbs, phrases, figurative speeches, &c. |date=1899 |publisher=Smith, Kay & co. |location=London |pages=61 }}