cowboy up

British

verb

informal (intr, adverb) to adopt a tough approach or course of action

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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See Examples For:

cowboy up

Please put on your batteries — a Mexican Spanish idiom that means to cowboy up.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

You also cowboy up with some fancy duds.

From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2023

The Angels entered the game with more homers than any team in baseball besides the Toronto Blue Jays, providing many opportunities to cowboy up in the dugout.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2022

But the next cowboy up was a doozie.

From The Guardian ● May 15, 2015

Hoyt, heartbroken and hungover in a redneck-fabulous bald eagle and American flag T-shirt subtly urging him to "cowboy up," packs Jessica's personal effects in a box labeled "For You, Monster."

From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2011

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023