What Does ''nose To The Grindstone'' Mean?

'To keep one's nose to the grindstone' means to work or toil very hard, to achieve the desired objective. It means to stay hard at work. For example, 'I think Timothy will fare well in the examinations, as he really keeps his nose to the grindstone'.

The expression first came about in the year 1539. It basically refers to a tool or implement that should be sharpened on a grindstone to make it sharper. Simply put, it means that one must sharpen the brain by using a metaphorical form of a grindstone.