English Explanatory Dictionary

blood, sweat and tears

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A person's determination and hard work.

Pronunciation

en-au-blood, sweat and tears.ogg

Word forms

blood, sweat and tears blood, sweat, and tears

Etymology

Popularized through a famous speech made by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons in 1940, with slight modification, but already present in earlier poetry. More information May be an extension of a much older Indo-European poetic formula “blood and tears”; compare e.g. Hittite 𒂊𒌍𒄩𒉌 𒅖𒄩𒄴𒊒𒌑𒄿 (e-eš-ḫa-ni iš-ḫa-aḫ-ru-ú-i, “in blood [and] in tear(s)”). It is common in Indo-European oral traditions to three bodily substances pertaining to a certain theme, such as “flesh, bone and marrow” for the internal solids (cf. Calin (2017), pages 143–146).

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