blood, sweat and tears en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
Popularized through a famous speech made by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons in 1940, with slight modification, but already present in earlier poetry. More information May be an extension of a much older Indo-European poetic formula “blood and tears”; compare e.g. Hittite 𒂊𒌍𒄩𒉌 𒅖𒄩𒄴𒊒𒌑𒄿 (e-eš-ḫa-ni iš-ḫa-aḫ-ru-ú-i, “in blood [and] in tear(s)”). It is common in Indo-European oral traditions to juxtapose three bodily substances pertaining to a certain theme, such as “flesh, bone and marrow” for the internal solids (cf. Calin (2017), pages 143–146).
Meanings
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(idiomatic, plural, plural-only) A person's determination and hard work.
[…] for if Princes could keep their own, and that which juſtly belongeth unto them, they could not be urged to draw ſuch extraordinary Subſidies from the blood, ſweat, and tears of their people-; […]
c. 1680 [1655], William Drummond of Hawthornden, “The History of the Reign of James the Firſt, King of Scotland”, in The History of Scotland […] , Tho. Fabian, page 29:We've poured lots of blood, sweat, and tears into this project.
She concludes: "I have put blood, sweat and tears into this business. I am genuinely more excited now than I have ever been. I plan to stick around."
2021 October 20, Angie Doll explains to Paul Clifton, “We were absolutely at rock bottom...”, in RAIL, number 942, page 37:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| blood, sweat, and tears | alternative | lexicographic |
Translations (14)
ceb dugo ug singot (person's determination and hard work) · fi verta, hikeä ja kyyneleitä (person's determination and hard work) · pl krwawica (person's determination and hard work) · ko 피땀 (person's determination and hard work) · de Blut, Schweiß und Tränen (person's determination and hard work) · sv blod, svett och tårar (person's determination and hard work) · nb blod, svette og tårer (person's determination and hard work) · da blod, sved og tårer (person's determination and hard work) · tl dugo at pawis (person's determination and hard work) · nl bloed, zweet en tranen (person's determination and hard work) · nn blod, sveitte og tårer (person's determination and hard work) · it sudore, lacrime e sangue (person's determination and hard work) · ms darah, peluh, dan air mata (person's determination and hard work) · es sangre, sudor y lágrimas (person's determination and hard work)