Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

roll up one's sleeves

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.59 in modern English

Syllables: rol-l up one's sleeves
IPA

22

Scrabble Score

17

Letters

2

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To prepare to work.

Informal

verb

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see roll, up, one's, sleeves.

Example Sentences

""We could quite easily have folded today but thankfully they rolled up their sleeves and got back into it. We could even have won it. We had a couple of great opportunities but we just ran out of juice.""
"TNo more pomp and ceremony, the new pope seemed to be saying, but sleeves rolled up and joining the fight for social and economic justice."

Usage

Informal

Inflected Forms

rolls up one's sleeves (present, singular) rolling up one's sleeves (participle, present) rolled up one's sleeves (participle, past) rolled up one's sleeves (past)

Phrases

at the coal face in the trenches

Frequently Paired Words

at the coal face in the trenches

Synonyms

belly up to the bar get down to brass tacks get one's act together pull one's socks up shape up

Questions

What does roll up one's sleeves mean?: To prepare to work.

How to pronounce roll up one's sleeves

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