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Dutch courage
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noun Sometimes Offensive.
courage inspired by drunkenness or drinking liquor.
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Origin of Dutch courage
First recorded in 1805–15
usage note for Dutch courage
Dutch courage is foolish courage or misplaced confidence. Because “Dutch” is used to imply that the courage is not genuine, the term is sometimes perceived as insulting to or by the Dutch. See also Dutch.
Words nearby Dutch courage
Dutch cap, Dutch chair, Dutch cheese, Dutch clover, Dutch Colonial, Dutch courage, Dutch cupboard, Dutch disease, Dutch doll, Dutch door, Dutch East Indies
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use Dutch courage in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for Dutch courage
Dutch courage
noun
false courage gained from drinking alcohol
alcoholic drink
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with Dutch courage
Dutch courage
False courage acquired by drinking liquor, as in He had a quick drink to give him Dutch courage. This idiom alludes to the reputed heavy drinking of the Dutch, and was first referred to in Edmund Waller's Instructions to a Painter (1665): “The Dutch their wine, and all their brandy lose, Disarm'd of that from which their courage grows.”
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.