Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

put one's shoulder to the wheel

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.97 in modern English

Syllables: put one's shoul-der -to the wheel
IPA

40

Scrabble Score

25

Letters

3

Syllables

12

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To work hard, to complete an activity with one's complete effort and focus.

Example Sentences

"When he got to law school he knew he'd have to put his shoulder to the wheel to succeed."
"War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and "we must all put our shoulders to the wheel," but the profits jump and leap and skyrocket—and are safely pocketed."
"Along the way, companies such as Facebook and Google employ every useful foot soldier, including social scientists such as [Alexander] Kogan who are willing to put their shoulders to the wheel as they help the company learn, perfect, and integrate the cutting-edge methods that can conquer the next frontier […]"

Etymology

From the literal action of attempting to free a cart from a rut or muddy ground.

Inflected Forms

puts one's shoulder to the wheel (present, singular) putting one's shoulder to the wheel (participle, present)

Phrases

set one's shoulder to the wheel ear to the ground keep one's eye on the ball

Frequently Paired Words

set one's shoulder to the wheel ear to the ground keep one's eye on the ball

Questions

What does put one's shoulder to the wheel mean?: To work hard, to complete an activity with one's complete effort and focus.
Where does put one's shoulder to the wheel come from?: From the literal action of attempting to free a cart from a rut or muddy ground.

How to pronounce put one's shoulder to the wheel

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “put one's shoulder to the wheel”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “put one's shoulder to the wheel”.
Repeat and practice — Say “put one's shoulder to the wheel” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.