Meaning Of Idiom ‘Work One’s Fingers to the Bone’
To work one’s fingers to the bone means to work extremely hard for a prolonged period of time. 1Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,2Brenner, Gail. Webster’s New World American Idioms Handbook. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.,3Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995.
This idiom can refer to general hard work as in one’s daily job, or it can refer to one difficult task that someone labors very hard to complete. It usually refers to working with one’s hands, especially cleaning and housework.
Sentence Examples
“My mother worked her fingers to the bone to support three hungry sons.”
“I worked my fingers to the bone getting this house cleaned and you kids track mud all over my floor!”
“My father bought an abandoned house for almost no money and he’s been working his finger to the bone to renovate it.”
“You can work your fingers to the bone for this company and they’ll never appreciate it.”
“These kids have worked Their fingers to the bone just to play one song for you, So sit down, shut up and listen!” — The School of Rock (2003)
“In my time, men would rather die than let his wife work her fingers to the bone while he clowns around.” — Wish I Was Here (2014)
“I beg your pardon, sir, but seeing them down there, working their fingers to the bones, well, we thought, that is, the lads and I thought, that we might just, well, nip along and give them a little hand, sir.” — Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
“How dare you talk to me like that! I done worked my fingers to the bone to make sure you had a decent life. I done cleaned more toilets than you can think of…” — Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor (2013)
“So Mr. Big Britches don’t want to be a damned cotton picker all his life! If your mama and I hadn’t been picking cotton all them years working our fingers to the bone for you where the hell would you be today, Mr. Big Britches?” — Honkytonk Man (1982)
“If you’d have listened, we could’ve had a nice little house you could’ve got a decent job and gone to work the way that other men do. I’d have cooked and cleaned and worked my fingers to the bone.” — There Was a Crooked Man… (1970)
Origin
This hyperbolic idiom has been used since the mid-1800s, this idiom alludes to wearing the flesh off of one’s fingers from working extremely hard with one’s hands.
Sources
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