elbow-grease

elbow grease

1. Vigorous scrubbing, typically to clean something. You'll never get that rust off without some elbow grease.
2. By extension, any strenuous, effortful physical work needed to do or accomplish something. It took some elbow grease, but I finally got this old engine up and running again. I know we're running out of time, but if we all use a bit of elbow grease, I think we'll be able to get the house built before the deadline.
See also: elbow, grease
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

elbow-grease

n. effort. All this job needs is a little more elbow-grease.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • elbow grease
  • elbow grease, to use
  • scour (something) off of (something else)
  • use (a little) (bit of) elbow grease
  • use some elbow grease
  • scour out of
  • scour (something) out of (something else)
  • scrape (something) out of (something)
  • scrape out of
  • scour out
References in periodicals archive
"Harvard is a company based on the old principle that in order to do a good job, one needs to put in a little elbow-grease," said DiGiovanni.
Giving customers the white glove treatment