Word.ws English Dictionary

sweat of one's brow

UK/ˈswɛt əv wɒnz ˈbɹaʊ/US/ˈswɛt əv wʌnz ˈbɹaʊ/

sweat of one's brow noun: the effort extended in (often manual) labour, and the value created thereby.

Noun

sweat of one's brow (uncountable)

  1. (idiomatic) The effort extended in (often manual) labour, and the value created thereby.
    • 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...1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: The Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 285
    • 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.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.
    Synonyms:
    sweat of one's brows, sweat of one's face

sweat of one's brow meaning in Persian

sweat of one's brow in Persian

effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby
عرق جبین araq-e jabin

Synonyms of sweat of one's brow

  • sweat of one's face
  • sweat of one's brows

Origin of sweat of one's brow

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.

Words that rhyme with sweat of one's brow

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about sweat of one's brow

What does sweat of one's brow mean?
Sweat of one's brow means the effort extended in (often manual) labour, and the value created thereby.
What is sweat of one's brow in Persian?
Sweat of one's brow in Persian is عرق جبین (araq-e jabin). See Sweat of one's brow meaning in Persian.
What part of speech is sweat of one's brow?
Sweat of one's brow is a noun.
How do you pronounce sweat of one's brow?
Sweat of one's brow is pronounced /ˈswɛt əv wɒnz ˈbɹaʊ/ (UK).

Words near sweat of one's brow in the dictionary

  1. sweat like a nigger on election day
  2. sweat like a pig
  3. sweat like a whore in church
  4. sweat lodge
  5. sweat lodges
  6. sweat of one's brow
  7. sweat of the brow
  8. sweat off
  9. sweat one's guts out
  10. sweat out
  11. sweat pants

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sweat of one's brow (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-sweat of one's brow.ogg.

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