sweat (redirected from broke a sweat)

blood, sweat, and tears

Fig. the signs of great personal effort. There will be much blood, sweat, and tears before we have completed this project. After years of blood, sweat, and tears, Timmy finally earned a college degree.

See also: and, tear

break out in a cold sweat

Lit. or Fig. to become frightened or anxious and begin to sweat. I was so frightened, I broke out in a cold sweat. Larry broke out in a cold sweat when he cut his hand.

See also: break, cold, out

by the sweat of one's brow

Fig. by one's efforts; by one's hard work. Tom raised these vegetables by the sweat of his brow. Sally polished the car by the sweat of her brow.

See also: brow

in a cold sweat

in a state of fear. He stood there in a cold sweat, waiting for something bad to happen. I was in a cold sweat while they counted the ballots.

See also: cold

no sweat and no problem

Inf. no difficulty; do not worry. Of course I can have your car repaired by noon. No sweat. You'd like a red one? No problem.

sweat something off

Fig. to get rid of excess fat or weight by exercising or taking a steam bath to produce sweat. I think I can sweat a lot of this fat off. Tony tried to sweat off some of his excess weight.

sweat something out 

1. Lit. to get rid of something in one's body by sweating. I have a bit of a cold, and I am going to try to sweat it out. I took a steamy shower, trying to sweat out my cold.

2. Fig. to endure something unpleasant. It was an ordeal, but I sweated it out. I managed to sweat out the exam.

3. Fig. to endure suspense about something. She sweated the two-hour wait out until she heard the results of her bar exams. Karen sweated out the long wait peacefully.

See also: out

sweat something out of someone and sweat something out 

1. Lit. to apply enough heat to cause someone to sweat, with the goal of removing bodily poisons or the cause of a disease. They used the ancient treatment of sweating the disease out of me. It worked! They used steam to sweat out the flu.

2. Fig. to force someone to reveal information under pressure. The cops couldn't sweat the information out of Max. They couldn't sweat out the information.

See also: out

sweat blood and sweat bullets

Fig. to be very anxious and tense. What a terrible test! I was really sweating blood at the last. Bob is such a bad driver. I sweat bullets every time I ride with him.

See also: blood

sweat for something

Fig. to work very hard for something. I sweat for every dollar I bring in. Ted really sweats for his salary.

work oneself (up) into a lather and work oneself (up) into a sweat 

1. and work up a sweat Lit. to work very hard and sweat very much. (In the way that a horse works up a lather.) Don't work yourself up into a lather. We don't need to finish this today. I worked myself into a sweat getting this stuff ready.

2. . Fig. to get excited or angry. (An elaboration of work oneself up to something.) Now, now, don't work yourself up into a lather. He had worked himself into such a sweat, I was afraid he would have a stroke.

See also: lather, oneself, work

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blood, sweat and tears

a lot of effort and suffering This house is the result of 3 years' blood, sweat and tears.

See also: and, tear

by the sweat of your brow  (literary)

if you earn the money that you use to live on by the sweat of your brow, you earn it yourself, by doing hard, often physical work A decent, hard-working man, he supported his family by the sweat of his brow.

See also: brow

Don't sweat it!  (American informal)

something that you say in order to tell someone not to worry Don't sweat it! We've got plenty of time to get there before the show starts.

Don't sweat the small stuff.  (American informal)

something that you say in order to tell someone not to worry about things that are not important Don't sweat the small stuff, Sam. It's just office gossip - no one takes it seriously.

See also: small, stuff

in a (cold) sweat

very frightened or anxious I dreamed I'd left the tickets at home and woke up in a cold sweat. Just the thought of addressing all those people is enough to bring me out in a cold sweat. (= make me feel very anxious)

No sweat!  (informal)

something that you say which means that you can do something easily 'Do you think you'll be able to manage all those boxes yourself?' 'Yeah, no sweat!'

slog/sweat/work your guts out  (informal)

to work very hard or to use a lot of effort to do something You've got this wonderful man slogging his guts out for you, and all you do is criticize him! After working his guts out at the gym, he spoilt it all by going straight to the pub.

See hate guts, spill guts

See also: gut, out, slog

sweat blood 

1. to work very hard He says that writing does not come naturally to him and he sweats blood over every sentence. I sweat blood every week just to earn enough money to feed my family.

2. to feel very worried or anxious We sweated blood as we waited for the police to phone, not knowing if Charlie was alive or dead.

See also: blood

sweat buckets  (informal)

to sweat (= lose water through your skin) a lot I was sweating buckets under my plastic rain jacket.

See also: bucket

sweat bullets  (American informal)

to be very worried or frightened He was sweating bullets by the time the police had finished questioning him.

See also: bullet

sweat like a pig  (informal)

to sweat (= have liquid coming out of your skin) a lot I was so nervous, I was sweating like a pig.

See slog guts out

See also: like, pig

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in a cold sweat

very frightened or worried I dreamed I'd lost our plane tickets and woke up in a cold sweat.

See also: cold

no sweat (spoken)

there is no problem or difficulty We'll be back by six, no sweat, but if there's a problem, we'll call you.

sweat blood

to work very hard Some students sweat blood over their dissertation, and others write it in a couple of months.

See also: blood

sweat out something also sweat it out

to anxiously wait for something I sent in my application and now I have to sweat out the two months until I get an answer. We really had to sweat it out because it wasn't clear until the end that we would actually win.

See also: out

work up a sweat

to put a lot of effort into something The volunteers are working up a sweat to make sure everything is ready on time.

See also: up, work