Elbow grease
Template:Short description Template:Sister project Elbow grease is an idiom for manual labor and/or the process of working hard to accomplish an objective.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The earliest evidence of the phrase in print was in 1672.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Andrew Marvell, an English metaphysical poet, used the words in a satirical book about English parliament. Marvell wrote: "Two or three brawny Fellows in a Corner, with mere Ink and Elbow-grease, do more Harm than an Hundred systematical Divines with their sweaty Preaching."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Further uses are attested in the 1670s.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1699, the phrase appeared in the New Dictionary of the Canting Crew defined as "a derisory Term for Sweat".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>