courage

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate.

   A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.

2. 2
   noun

   The ability to overcome one's fear, do or live things which one finds frightening.

   He plucked up the courage to tell her how he felt.

3. 3
   noun

   The ability to maintain one's will or intent despite either the experience of fear, frailty, or frustration; or the occurrence of adversity, difficulty, defeat or reversal. Moral fortitude.

   “Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.”

4. 4
   verb

   To encourage.

   And wete yow wel sayd kynge Arthur vnto Vrres syster I shalle begynne to handle hym and serche vnto my power not presumyng vpon me that I am soo worthy to hele youre sone by my dedes / but I wille courage other men of worshyp to doo as I wylle doo

5. 5
   noun

   a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear

Etymology

From Middle English corage, from Old French corage (French courage), from Vulgar Latin *corāticum, from Latin cor (“heart”). Distantly related to cardiac (“of the heart”), which is from Greek, but from the same Proto-Indo-European root. Displaced Middle English elne, ellen, from Old English ellen (“courage, valor”).