Advertisement
Advertisement
pluck up one's courage
Discover More
Idioms and Phrases
Also, screw up one's courage . Force oneself to overcome fear or timidity, as in He was really afraid of slipping on the ice, but he plucked up his courage and ventured down the driveway , or I screwed up my courage and dove off the high board . The first term uses pluck in the sense of “make a forcible effort”; Shakespeare put it as “Pluck up thy spirits” ( The Taming of the Shrew , 4:3). The variant derives from the use of screw to mean “force or strain by means of a screw.”Advertisement
Word of the Day
[fur-kin ]
Meaning and examplesStart each day with the Word of the Day in your inbox!
By clicking "Sign Up", you are accepting Dictionary.com Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policies.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Browse