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roll up one's sleeves

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roll up one's sleeves

verb rolls up one's sleeves · rolling up one's sleeves · rolled up one's sleeves

  1. idiomatic, informal To prepare to work. "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."
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see roll, up, one's, sleeves.

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

Translations

Every language

verb prepare to work

Españolarremangarse, ponerse las pilas
中文准备工作 zhǔnbèi gōngzuò
Portuguêspôr a mão na massa, arregaçar as mangas
Françaisretrousser ses manches
Deutschdie Ärmel hochkrempeln
Italianodarsi da fare, rimboccarsi le maniche
Русскийзасучи́ть рукава́ zasučítʹ rukavá

verb roll one's sleeves up

Españolarremangarse
日本語腕まくりする udemakuri suru
中文捲起袖子 /卷起袖子 juǎnqǐ xiùzi
Portuguêsarregaçar as mangas
Françaisretrousser ses manches
DeutschÄrmel hochkrempeln
Italianorimboccarsi le maniche, smanicarsi
Русскийзасучи́ть рукава́ zasučítʹ rukavá, заката́ть рукава́ zakatátʹ rukavá

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MLA

"roll up one's sleeves." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/roll%20up%20one's%20sleeves. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

roll up one's sleeves. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/roll%20up%20one's%20sleeves

Chicago

"roll up one's sleeves." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/roll%20up%20one's%20sleeves.

BibTeX
@misc{roll_up_one_s_sleeves_2026,
  title = {roll up one's sleeves},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/roll%20up%20one's%20sleeves},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}