By hard work, as in The only way he'll succeed is by the sweat of his brow. This figurative usage appears in the Bible (Genesis 31:9), where Adam's punishment for eating fruit in Eden is "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"--that is, he will have to work for his bread, or living. [c. 1600]
by the sweat of one's brow
| Idioms: by the sweat of one's brow |
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 | sweat (Idiom) |
| Sweat of the brow |
| Threshold of originality |
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 | Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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