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Dutch courage

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Dutch courage

 
Use Dutch courage in a Sentence
–noun Sometimes Offensive.
courage inspired by drunkenness or drinking liquor.
Origin:
1805–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Dutch courage  
n.   Informal
Courage acquired from drinking liquor.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
Dutch courage

  1. n.
    liquor; false courage from drinking liquor. : A couple of shots of Dutch courage, and he was ready to face anything.
  2. n.
    drugs. : Max deals in Dutch courage, as he calls it.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Idioms & Phrases

Dutch courage

False courage acquired by drinking liquor, as in He had a quick drink to give him Dutch courage. This idiom alludes to the reputed heavy drinking of the Dutch, and was first referred to in Edmund Waller's Instructions to a Painter (1665): "The Dutch their wine, and all their brandy lose, Disarm'd of that from which their courage grows."

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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