grin and bear it

Idioms & Phrases

grin and bear it

Put up good-humoredly with adversity, with good humor, as in It's no fun being sick for the holidays, but you might as well grin and bear it. Also put as grin and abide in the 19th century, this expression became so well known that Sam Walter Foss (1858-1911) made a pun on it in his poem, "The Firm of Grin and Barrett": "Never yet was any panic Scared the firm of Grin and Barrett."

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Explore Dictionary.com
Previous Definition: grin
Next Definition: grin like a cheshire cat
Words Near: grin and bear it
More from Thesaurus.com
Synonyms and Antonyms for grin and bear it
More from Reference.com
Search for articles containing grin and bear it
00:10
Grin and bear it is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
Dictionary.com Word FAQs

Dictionary.com presents 366 FAQs, incorporating some of the frequently asked questions from the past with newer queries.

Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT