• Exciting news! With our new Ad-Free Premium Subscription you can enjoy a distraction-free browsing experience while supporting our site's growth. Without ads, you have less distractions and enjoy faster page load times. Upgrade is optional. Find out more here, and enjoy ad-free learning with us!

work up a sweat - 2 meanings

Status
Not open for further replies.

JACEK1

Key Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2013
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
Hello everyone!

I know that "work up a sweat" means two different things:

  1. do physical exercise or hard work that makes you sweat.
  2. put a lot of effort into something.


I came across the following sentence on the Internet.

They had the heating on full last week so when I started scrubbing the tiles, it only took about a minute to work up a sweat.

I think the first meaning applies in this case.
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England

Tdol

Editor, UsingEnglish.com
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
And I make three.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top