Wednesday November 14, 2007
Wordwise
By S.H. LOKE
DO you get into a sweat about speaking English? Don’t sweat it. With some of these ‘sweat’ expressions, you’ll find that speaking English is no sweat.
1. A cold sweat
A state of nervousness or fear when you start to sweat although you are not feeling hot.
I was bathed in cold sweat as we crossed the raging river on a tree trunk.
2. Don’t sweat the small stuff
Don’t worry about unimportant things.
There is no time to sweat the small stuff when you face a crisis.
3. Sweat it out
To continue doing something until it is finished.
We have to sweat the food fair out in order to raise enough funds.
4. Sweat your guts out
To work very hard, especially using physical effort.
They spent hours sweating their guts out to build a bridge in their village.
5. Sweat something off
To lose weight by sweating a lot.
She sweats off a pound each time she plays tennis.
6. The sweat of somebody’s brow
The hard effort that someone has made in their work.
Henry built up his cookie business with the sweat of his brow.
7. Work up a sweat
To do physical exercise or hard work that makes you sweat.
He worked up a sweat while moving a lot of furniture.
8. Break out in a sweat
Start to sweat because you are frightened.
One student broke out in a sweat when he was caught copying during his examination.
9. Sweat something out of somebody
To get information from someone by asking questions in an intimidating way.
The police managed to sweat the names of his accomplices out of the robber.
10. Sweated labour
Hard work done for very low wages.
Many foreign workers are engaged for sweated labour.
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