Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic)To do (something) in a way that makes it more difficult than it needs to be.1895, Wisconsin Farmers' Institutes,A Hand-book of Agriculture, page196:The motion is from the shoulder rather than from the elbow, moving the whole arm, and there is no need tomake hard work ofit.1905,Ad Sense: Devoted to the Interests of Buyers of Advertising, page582:Imade hard work ofa very easy task .1985, Maurice Taylor,Easy Steps to the Band, page67:Don'tmake hard work ofit . An instrument in good condition is easy to blow when properly played.2022, Andrew Rippin,The Qur'an and its Interpretative Tradition, page47:Unfortunately, Versteeghmade hard work ofhis task once again by using the rather difficult manuscript from Cairo, Dār al-kutub 242 (Versteegh describes this manuscript on p. 156 as "very hard to read, and we have managed to analyze only parts of it.").; (idiomatic)To struggle to accomplish something.1891, John Pancoast Gordy,Rise and Growth of the Normal-school Idea in the United States, page80:For arithmetic to-day, as the pupilsmade hard work ofthe examples yesterday, I changed only the numbers.2003, Gordon Banks,Banksy: The Autobiography of an English Football Hero:While we hadmade hard work ofdefeating Sheffield United in our FA Cup semifinal, Spurs were breezing past Burnley 3–0 in the other tie.2005, Gene Kerrigan,Hard Cases – True Stories of Irish Crime:As Wright opened the door hemade hard work ofit, rattling the key in the lock.2020September 5, Phil McNulty, “Iceland 0-1 England”, inBBC Sport[1]:Englandmade hard work ofthe win against a stubborn and well-organised Iceland but were the better and more positive side.
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