"push water uphill" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pushes water uphill",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushing water uphill",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushed water uphill",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushed water uphill",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "push water uphill (third-person singular simple present pushes water uphill, present participle pushing water uphill, simple past and past participle pushed water uphill)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1917, Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal - Volume 21, Chilton Company, page 161",
          "text": "A Salesman Unaided by the House is Pushing Water Uphill.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Michael Roe, Marketing Professional Services, Routledge, page 9",
          "text": "Without that commitment you will be pushing water uphill the whole time and will lose your own, necessary motivation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Zoë C Lloyd, All Patients Great and Small: Tales of a Rural District Nurse, BalboaPress, page 28",
          "text": "Persuading Kenny that measuring his calves did not require removal of his underpants and trousers was akin to pushing water uphill. He claimed that he couldn't tell what I was saying, which seemed strange as he had no problem deciphering the initial message.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Roger Lane-Smith, A Fork in the Road: From Single Partner to Largest Legal Practice in the World, Icon Books",
          "text": "Our relationship with Donovan Leisure was doing well, in truth because Rod Hills and I worked so hard on it, but often it felt like pushing water uphill.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Stephanie Butland, Letters To My Husband, Random House, page 237",
          "text": "And they have another drink, and they try to talk about something else, they really do, but it's like pushing water uphill: it won't work, and it's exhausting.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "try to achieve a goal despite huge resistance, being an uphill battle"
      ],
      "id": "en-push_water_uphill-en-verb-c5u3bkn6",
      "links": [
        [
          "uphill battle",
          "uphill battle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) try to achieve a goal despite huge resistance, being an uphill battle"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "push water uphill with a rake"
        },
        {
          "word": "push water uphill with a fork"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "push water uphill"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "pushes water uphill",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushing water uphill",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushed water uphill",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "pushed water uphill",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "push water uphill (third-person singular simple present pushes water uphill, present participle pushing water uphill, simple past and past participle pushed water uphill)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1917, Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal - Volume 21, Chilton Company, page 161",
          "text": "A Salesman Unaided by the House is Pushing Water Uphill.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Michael Roe, Marketing Professional Services, Routledge, page 9",
          "text": "Without that commitment you will be pushing water uphill the whole time and will lose your own, necessary motivation.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Zoë C Lloyd, All Patients Great and Small: Tales of a Rural District Nurse, BalboaPress, page 28",
          "text": "Persuading Kenny that measuring his calves did not require removal of his underpants and trousers was akin to pushing water uphill. He claimed that he couldn't tell what I was saying, which seemed strange as he had no problem deciphering the initial message.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, Roger Lane-Smith, A Fork in the Road: From Single Partner to Largest Legal Practice in the World, Icon Books",
          "text": "Our relationship with Donovan Leisure was doing well, in truth because Rod Hills and I worked so hard on it, but often it felt like pushing water uphill.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2015, Stephanie Butland, Letters To My Husband, Random House, page 237",
          "text": "And they have another drink, and they try to talk about something else, they really do, but it's like pushing water uphill: it won't work, and it's exhausting.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "try to achieve a goal despite huge resistance, being an uphill battle"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "uphill battle",
          "uphill battle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) try to achieve a goal despite huge resistance, being an uphill battle"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "push water uphill with a rake"
    },
    {
      "word": "push water uphill with a fork"
    }
  ],
  "word": "push water uphill"
}