push water uphill en · VERB
Meanings
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(idiomatic) To try to achieve a goal despite huge resistance or nearly futile awkwardness, the task being an uphill battle.
A Salesman Unaided by the House is Pushing Water Uphill.
1917, Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal - Volume 21, Chilton Company, page 161:Persuading Kenny that measuring his calves did not require removal of his underpants and trousers was akin to pushing water uphill. He claimed that he couldn't tell what I was saying, which seemed strange as he had no problem deciphering the initial message.
2013, Zoë C Lloyd, All Patients Great and Small: Tales of a Rural District Nurse, BalboaPress, →ISBN, page 28:Without that commitment you will be pushing water uphill the whole time and will lose your own, necessary motivation.
2012, Michael Roe, Marketing Professional Services, Routledge, →ISBN, page 9:Our relationship with Donovan Leisure was doing well, in truth because Rod Hills and I worked so hard on it, but often it felt like pushing water uphill.
2014, Roger Lane-Smith, A Fork in the Road: From Single Partner to Largest Legal Practice in the World, Icon Books, →ISBN:And they have another drink, and they try to talk about something else, they really do, but it's like pushing water uphill: it won't work, and it's exhausting.
2015, Stephanie Butland, Letters To My Husband, Random House, →ISBN, page 237:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| pushing water uphill | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| push water uphill with a fork | alternative | lexicographic | |
| pushed water uphill | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| pushed water uphill | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| push water uphill with a rake | alternative | lexicographic | |
| pushes water uphill | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic |
Relateds
Sisyphean labour · put the toothpaste back in the tube · water pump · put the genie back in the bottle · herd cats