Pluck up (courage/heart/nerve/spirits etc)

Origin of: Pluck up (courage/heart/nerve/spirits etc)

Pluck up (courage/heart/nerve/spirits etc)

These variations have been common expressions since the 1400s. Pluck up is simply the Old English way of saying take up, gather up, or summon up. Shakespeare used the expression in Much Ado about Nothing Act V, Scene I when Don Pedro says, “But soft you, let me be: pluck up my heart.” See also Pluck/plucky.