sweat out

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

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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, sweat