shoulder to shoulder
Meaning: Side by side, working together.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “The villagers worked shoulder to shoulder to sandbag the river.”
Category: Body & Senses
Origin: Soldiers in close ranks stood literally shoulder to shoulder. The figurative sense of standing together is found from the 16th century.
Equivalents in other languages
- Spanish: codo con codo — literally: elbow with elbow
- Portuguese: ombro a ombro — literally: shoulder to shoulder
More idioms — Body & Senses
- tread carefully — To act with great caution in a delicate situation.
- pull the other one — Said to someone telling an obvious lie.
- the heart of the matter — The most important part of an issue.
- rub salt in the wound — To make someone's pain or humiliation worse.
- tread on someone's toes — To offend someone, especially by interfering in what they see as their business.
- get under someone's feet — To be in the way while someone is trying to work.
More English idioms
- rough and ready — Crude but good enough for the purpose.
- keep up appearances — To behave as if nothing is wrong, to protect one's reputation.
- grow like wildfire — To spread very fast.
- at the stroke of a pen — By one quick official decision.
- not on your life — Absolutely not.
- make a clean break — To end something completely rather than gradually.