nose to the grindstone
3
6.3
- idiom
- Informal
:
trabajar duro
- It always amazes me how I manage to zip to the top of the heap in some new endeavor simply by putting my nose to the grindstone.
- put your nose to the grindstone
- keep your nose to the grindstone
He ignored me, you know, I was a peon and I just nose to the grindstone for the next couple of years down there.
- He ignored me, you know, I was a peon and I just nose to the grindstone for the next couple of years down there.
- You might, if you're a conservative, you know, nose to the grindstone kind of scientist, say, well, maybe you just missed it.
- I'm going to be with, you know, with my nose to the grindstone until it's time to totally relax shortly before the, the Christmas holiday begins.
Examples
-
Throughout the semester, he kept his nose to the grindstone, studying late into the night to achieve his academic goals.
-
You must put your nose to the grindstone to make good.
-
You had to keep your nose to the grindstone and your shoulder to the wheel.
Fiction book (1999) -
Yes, Finch, if you work hard, keep your nose to the grindstone, there's no telling how far you can go with this company.
-
"Hard work, nose to the grindstone, twenty-hour days, luck, and marry the boss's daughter.
Fiction book (2002) -
But just that working harder and putting your nose to the grindstone more aggressively, reliably induces better performance.
-
To succeed in his career, he needs to keep his nose to the grindstone and stay dedicated to his work.
-
She decided to put her nose to the grindstone during the final weeks of the project to ensure it was completed on time.
Synonyms
60
3.7
To work hard for a long time at a dull or repeated task
8
3.4
Spend a lot of time doing hard, tiring tasks
5
4.8
To work hard for a long time on something
5
6.7
To work hard for a long time on a task that is difficult or tiring
4
7.4
Do very hard, long jobs until you are very tired
1
7.7
To work hard for a long time on a difficult task without stopping
1
6.3
Work hard for a long time on something, often before an exam or deadline
To work hard and continue when things are difficult
To do very hard, long tasks until you are very tired
Antonyms
How Hard
27
3.5
- Informal
6
5.1
- Informal
3
6.3
355
1.6
129
2.1
- Informal
572
2.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
nose + to + the + grindstone
The image of putting one's 'nose' to a 'grindstone' creates a metaphorical link to sustained, focused effort (grindstone as a tool for continual grinding), so there is partial compositional motivation from the parts. However, the idiomatic sense 'work hard continuously' is not fully predictable from the literal words alone—the cultural/metaphorical mapping (and the relatively low salience of 'grindstone') means a B1 learner would likely only partially infer the meaning without prior exposure.
Etymology
Nose to the grindstone may come from old workshops where people sharpened tools on a large turning stone. They had to bend close and keep their nose near the grindstone to keep working, so the phrase came to mean 'to work hard'.