elbow juice

English

Noun

elbow juice (uncountable)

1. (rare) Synonym of elbow grease
   • 1860 July 1, Sullivan D. Harris, “Talk about Harvesting and Tools”, in Ohio Cultivator, volume 16, number 13:

     [F]or unloading in the barn, the hoisting fork is a great saving of time and elbow juice.

   • 1956, Holger Cahill, The Shadow of my Hand, Harcourt Brace, page 64:

     As it turned out, the prairie was not an easy land to tame, the way it looked at first. Everything had to be done with elbow juice, raising the first tents out of bed sheets sewn together, digging the soddy before winter came, a mud house with a mud floor dug into a coulee hillside.

   • 2004, Malahat Review, Issues 146-149, page 36:

     "Get the pitchfork there. Start by the fence and don't be afraid to invest a little elbow juice."