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dutch courage

 - 3 dictionary results

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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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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