do the heavy lifting
Meaning: To do the hardest part of a job.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The interns did the heavy lifting on the report.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: From physical labor, where someone carries the heaviest loads. The figurative use is common from the late 20th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- Danish: At trække det store læs — literally: To pull the big load
More idioms — Daily Life
- a bad workman blames his tools — People who do poor work blame their equipment instead of themselves.
- ask for trouble — To behave in a way likely to cause problems for oneself.
- worth the price of admission — So entertaining that it would be worth paying to watch.
- out of this world — Wonderful; extraordinarily good.
- the pits — The worst; extremely bad.
- sleep on it — To delay a decision until the next day to think it over.
More English idioms
- pull a long face — To look sad, sulky or disappointed.
- rushed off one's feet — Extremely busy.
- the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence — Other people's situations always seem better than one's own.
- every cloud has a silver lining — Something good can come out of any bad situation.
- it'll all come out in the wash — Things will work out in the end.
- haste makes waste — Doing things too quickly leads to mistakes.
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