mettlesome

[ met-l-suhm ]
See synonyms for mettlesome on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. spirited; courageous.

Origin of mettlesome

1
First recorded in 1655–65; mettle + -some1

Words Nearby mettlesome

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mettlesome in a sentence

  • I know no more mettlesome horse to ride on ahead of the King and in the beard of those city clowns.

  • The horse was mettlesome and high-spirited, and the sight of Perry's motor-cycle sent the animal leaping toward the roadside.

  • Socks, the most restive and mettlesome of the horses, started and whinnied as burning leaves struck him.

    The Pioneers | Katharine Susannah Prichard
  • Bernardino led him to a pavilion where a number of pleasure-seekers were gathered and selected a sleigh and two mettlesome horses.

    The Land of the Changing Sun | William N. Harben
  • Quesada selected the most mettlesome and leaped into the deep saddle.

    The Wolf Cub | Patrick Casey