Look up elbow grease in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Elbow grease is an idiom for manual labour and/or the process of working hard to accomplish an objective.[1]
The earliest evidence of the phrase in print was in 1672.[2]Andrew Marvell, an English metaphysical poet, used the words in a satirical book about English parliament. Marvell wrote: "Two or three brawny Fellows in a Corner, with mere Ink and Elbow-grease, do more Harm than an Hundred systematical Divines with their sweaty Preaching."[3]