on one's shoulders

on (one's) shoulders

One's own responsibility or obligation. My siblings' care has been on my shoulders ever since our parents died.

on one's shoulders

As one's responsibility, as in The king carries his entire country on his shoulders, or The success of the conference rests on Nancy's shoulders. This metaphoric use of shoulders as the burden-bearing part of the body dates from the late 1300s.

See also: on, shoulder

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

See also:

play cards
have swallowed a dictionary
ain’t 1
phased
phazed
at one's
at someone's
open one’s kimono
gripes one’s butt
go out of

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on one's lips
on one's lonesome
on one's merits
on one's mettle
on one's mind
on one's mind
on one's mind
on one's mind
on one's mind
on one's nerves
on one's own
On one's own account
On one's own account
on one's own ground
on one's own head
On one's own hook
On one's own hook
on one's own merits
on one's own terms
on one's own time
on one's own volition
on one's part
on one's person
on one's pins
on one's plate
on one's radar
on one's radar screen
on one's right side
on one's say so
on one's say-so
on one's shoulders
on one's side
on one's six
on one's slate
on one's soapbox
on one's suggestion
on one's tail
on one's terms
on one's toes
on one's toes, to be
on one's trail
on one's uppers
on one's watch
on one's way
on one's way out
on one's way to
on one's way to it
on one's way to someone
on one's way to something
on one's wrong side
on one’s high horse
on one’s last legs
on one’s own hook
on oneself
on opposite sides of the barricade
on opposite sides of the barricade(s)
on opposite sides of the barricades
on or about
on or about
on or about
On or After
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