staying power

Idioms & Phrases

staying power

The ability to endure or last, as in I'm not sure that this young novelist will have staying power, or Our candidate definitely has staying power. This expression comes from racing, where it means "the strength to maintain speed through a race." [Second half of 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature