sweat of one's brow

English edit

WOTD – 23 November 2020

Etymology edit

A reference to Genesis 3:17 and 19 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized):^[1] “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: [...]”,^[2] meaning that due to disobedience to God, humans would henceforth have to exert labour for their food, causing their brows or foreheads to perspire.

Pronunciation edit

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈswɛt əv wɒnz ˈbɹaʊ/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈswɛt əv wʌnz ˈbɹaʊ/
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -aʊ

Noun edit

sweat of one's brow (uncountable)

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

Related terms edit

sweat of the brow

Translations edit

effort extended in labour, and the value created thereby

Dutch: in het zweet zijns aanschijns
Finnish: hiellä ja vaivalla (literally “by the sweat of one's brow”) (adverb), otsa hiessä (adverb)
French: à la sueur de son front (fr)
Galician: suor da túa fronte m
German: im Schweiße seines Angesichts (de)
Italian: col sudore della fronte
Norwegian:
Bokmål: ens ansikts sved (no)
Polish: w pocie czoła (pl)
Portuguese: com o suor do seu rosto
Russian: в по́те лица́ (ru) (v póte licá), в по́те лица́ своего́ (v póte licá svojevó)
Swedish: i sitt anletes svett (sv)

References edit

^ “the sweat of (one’s) brow (†brows), face, etc.” under “sweat, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1918; “by the sweat of one’s brow, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
^ The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, →OCLC, Genesis 3:17 and 19: “And vnto Adam he [God] ſaid, Becauſe thou haſt hearkened vnto the voyce of thy wife, and haſt eaten of the tree, [...] In the ſweate of thy face ſhalt thou eate bread, till thou returne vnto the ground: [...]”; Bible (New International Version), 1984, Genesis 3:19: “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”