Meaning
To remain bold, resolute, determined, and courageous, especially in the face of possible danger, difficulty, hardship, or adversity. Taken from a line in Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.”
Examples
Men, some of us may not make it back alive, but such is the nature of war; so screw your courage to the sticking place and show them what you’re made of!
I’m really nervous about asking Sarah out on a date, but I’m going to screw my courage to the sticking place and ask her by the end of the day.
Origin
Synonyms
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The idiom ‘screw (one’s) courage to the sticking place’ means “to deal with a difficult situation without being harmed or damaged”
Example usage of idiom ‘screw (one’s) courage to the sticking place’: Newspapers have weathered the storm of online information by providing news online themselves.