"sweat of one's brow" meaning in English

See sweat of one's brow in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈswɛt əv wɒnz ˈbɹaʊ/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈswɛt əv wʌnz ˈbɹaʊ/ [General-American] Audio: En-au-sweat of one's brow.ogg
Rhymes: -aʊ Etymology: A reference to Genesis 3:17 and 19 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “And unto Adam he [God] said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, … In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground: …”, meaning that due to disobedience to God, humans would henceforth have to exert labour for their food, causing their brows or foreheads to perspire. Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} sweat of one's brow (uncountable)
  1. (idiomatic) The effort extended in (often manual) labour, and the value created thereby. Wikipedia link: Adam, New International Version Tags: idiomatic, uncountable Synonyms: sweat of one's brows [obsolete], sweat of one's face Related terms: sweat of the brow Translations (effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby): in het zweet zijns aanschijns (Dutch), hiellä ja vaivalla [adverb] (Finnish), otsa hiessä [adverb] (Finnish), à la sueur de son front (French), suor da túa fronte [masculine] (Galician), im Schweiße seines Angesichts (German), col sudore della fronte (Italian), ens ansikts sved (Norwegian Bokmål), w pocie czoła (Polish), com o suor do seu rosto (Portuguese), в по́те лица́ (v póte licá) (Russian), в по́те лица́ своего́ (v póte licá svojevó) (Russian), i sitt anletes svett (Swedish)
{
  "etymology_text": "A reference to Genesis 3:17 and 19 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “And unto Adam he [God] said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, … In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground: …”, meaning that due to disobedience to God, humans would henceforth have to exert labour for their food, causing their brows or foreheads to perspire.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "sweat of one's brow (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
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        },
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
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        },
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Galician translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Italian translations",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
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        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
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        },
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Russian translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 285:",
          "text": "So anyhow Terry brought the three pints Joe was standing and begob the sight nearly left my eyes when I saw him land out a quid. O, as true as I'm telling you. A goodlooking sovereign. / ― And there's more where that came from, says he. / ― Were you robbing the poorbox, Joe? say I? / ― Sweat of my brow, says Joe. 'Twas the prudent member gave me the wheeze.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991 March 27, Sandra Day O'Connor writing for the Supreme Court of the United States in Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co.",
          "text": "Making matters worse, these courts developed a new theory to justify the protection of factual compilations. Known alternatively as \"sweat of the brow\" or \"industrious collection,\" the underlying notion was that copyright was a reward for the hard work that went into compiling facts."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The effort extended in (often manual) labour, and the value created thereby."
      ],
      "id": "en-sweat_of_one's_brow-en-noun-qrUrgkVP",
      "links": [
        [
          "effort",
          "effort"
        ],
        [
          "extend",
          "extend"
        ],
        [
          "manual",
          "manual"
        ],
        [
          "labour",
          "labour#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "value",
          "value#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "create",
          "create"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) The effort extended in (often manual) labour, and the value created thereby."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "sweat of the brow"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "sweat of one's brows"
        },
        {
          "word": "sweat of one's face"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "in het zweet zijns aanschijns"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "tags": [
            "adverb"
          ],
          "word": "hiellä ja vaivalla"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "tags": [
            "adverb"
          ],
          "word": "otsa hiessä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "à la sueur de son front"
        },
        {
          "code": "gl",
          "lang": "Galician",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "suor da túa fronte"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "im Schweiße seines Angesichts"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "col sudore della fronte"
        },
        {
          "code": "nb",
          "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "ens ansikts sved"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "w pocie czoła"
        },
        {
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "com o suor do seu rosto"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "v póte licá",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "в по́те лица́"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "v póte licá svojevó",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "в по́те лица́ своего́"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
          "word": "i sitt anletes svett"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Adam",
        "New International Version"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈswɛt əv wɒnz ˈbɹaʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈswɛt əv wʌnz ˈbɹaʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-sweat of one's brow.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/95/En-au-sweat_of_one%27s_brow.ogg/En-au-sweat_of_one%27s_brow.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/En-au-sweat_of_one%27s_brow.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sweat of one's brow"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "A reference to Genesis 3:17 and 19 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “And unto Adam he [God] said, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, … In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground: …”, meaning that due to disobedience to God, humans would henceforth have to exert labour for their food, causing their brows or foreheads to perspire.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "sweat of one's brow (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "sweat of the brow"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms derived from the Bible",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Rhymes:English/aʊ",
        "Rhymes:English/aʊ/4 syllables",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Galician translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Terms with Portuguese translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 285:",
          "text": "So anyhow Terry brought the three pints Joe was standing and begob the sight nearly left my eyes when I saw him land out a quid. O, as true as I'm telling you. A goodlooking sovereign. / ― And there's more where that came from, says he. / ― Were you robbing the poorbox, Joe? say I? / ― Sweat of my brow, says Joe. 'Twas the prudent member gave me the wheeze.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1991 March 27, Sandra Day O'Connor writing for the Supreme Court of the United States in Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co.",
          "text": "Making matters worse, these courts developed a new theory to justify the protection of factual compilations. Known alternatively as \"sweat of the brow\" or \"industrious collection,\" the underlying notion was that copyright was a reward for the hard work that went into compiling facts."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The effort extended in (often manual) labour, and the value created thereby."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "effort",
          "effort"
        ],
        [
          "extend",
          "extend"
        ],
        [
          "manual",
          "manual"
        ],
        [
          "labour",
          "labour#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "value",
          "value#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "create",
          "create"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) The effort extended in (often manual) labour, and the value created thereby."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "sweat of one's brows"
        },
        {
          "word": "sweat of one's face"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Adam",
        "New International Version"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈswɛt əv wɒnz ˈbɹaʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈswɛt əv wʌnz ˈbɹaʊ/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "En-au-sweat of one's brow.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/95/En-au-sweat_of_one%27s_brow.ogg/En-au-sweat_of_one%27s_brow.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/En-au-sweat_of_one%27s_brow.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-aʊ"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "in het zweet zijns aanschijns"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "tags": [
        "adverb"
      ],
      "word": "hiellä ja vaivalla"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "tags": [
        "adverb"
      ],
      "word": "otsa hiessä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "à la sueur de son front"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "suor da túa fronte"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "im Schweiße seines Angesichts"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "col sudore della fronte"
    },
    {
      "code": "nb",
      "lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "ens ansikts sved"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "w pocie czoła"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "com o suor do seu rosto"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "v póte licá",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "в по́те лица́"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "v póte licá svojevó",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "в по́те лица́ своего́"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby",
      "word": "i sitt anletes svett"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sweat of one's brow"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (b941637 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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