From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwork your way to/through etc somethingwork your way to/through etc somethinga) to move somewhere slowly and with difficulty From here, we worked our way carefully across the rock base. b) to achieve something gradually by working He had worked his way up to head of department. → work
Examples from the Corpus
work your way to/through etc something• And national campaign finance reform began to work its way through the U. S. Congress.• For nearly two hours he worked his way through his agenda, more administration and finance today than scientific exploration.• He would stand in the gents' cubicle and work his way through the fantasy, peeing in synchronization with the finale.• I realize that I need to work my way through the next passages with care and delicacy.• Magistrates are working their way through questioning all the officers who participated in the raid, beginning with the 13 commanders.• The engine started to sound rough, but she thought it would work its way through and ignored it.• Tom, like most of the others, will need lots of reinforcement as he works his way through the change.• We are attempting to work our way through all these questions. 