Dutch courage

American  

noun

Sometimes Offensive.

1. courage inspired by drunkenness or drinking liquor.

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Dutch courage British  

noun

1. false courage gained from drinking alcohol

2. alcoholic drink

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Dutch courage Idioms  

1. 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.”

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Sensitive Note

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.

Etymology

Origin of Dutch courage

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

Dutch courage … John le Carré's Toby Bell takes to a cafe to prepare himself to steal an illicit recording back from his employer.

From The Guardian • Apr. 12, 2013

His face grew paler, his scar waxed redder, and with all his Dutch courage there was a look of alarm visible in his cold eyes.

From The Bishop's Secret by Hume, Fergus

The Dutch have had second-hand flags to fight under; And so if "Dutch courage" mean borrowed, what wonder?

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 105 October 7, 1893 by Various

Bridegroom, Dutch courage of, 72; driven to desperation, 83.

From How to be Happy Though Married Being a Handbook to Marriage by Hardy, Edward John

Then she was forced to emerge—and no tottering criminal, about to face the scaffold, has ever had more need of Dutch courage than Laura in this moment.

From The Getting of Wisdom by Richardson, Henry Handel

Related Words

• drunkenness
• liquid courage