Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Mettle
Met′tle
,Noun.
[E.
metal
, used in a tropical sense in allusion to the temper of the metal of a sword blade. See Metal
.] Substance or quality of temperament; spirit, esp. as regards honor, courage, fortitude, ardor, etc.; disposition; – usually in a good sense;
as, to test a person’s
. mettle
A certain critical hour which shall . . . try what
mettle
his heart is made of. South.
Gentlemen of brave
mettle
. Shakespeare
The winged courser, like a generous horse,
Shows most true
Shows most true
mettle
when you check his course. Pope.
To put one one's mettle
, to cause or incite one to use one's best efforts.
Webster 1828 Edition
Mettle
METTLE
,Noun.
L. animus, animosus.] Spirit; constitutional ardor; that temperament which is susceptible of high excitement. It is not synonymous with courage, though it may be accompanied with it, and is sometimes used for it.
The winged courser, like a generous horse,
Shows most true mettle when you check his course.
Definition 2024
mettle
mettle
English
Noun
mettle (usually uncountable, plural mettles)
- A quality of endurance and courage.
- 360 BCE, Plato, The Republic, Book VIII.
- In the succeeding generation rulers will be appointed who have lost the guardian power of testing the metal of your different races, which, like Hesiod's, are of gold and silver and brass and iron.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fifth, act iv, scene 8 (First Folio ed.)
- By this Day and this Light, the fellow ha's mettell enough in his belly.
- 2001, Harry J. Alexandrowicz, Testing your Mettle: Tough Problems and Real-world Solutions for Middle and High School Teachers, page xiii
- Please read on and discover the issues in education that test the mettle of those who experience this world every day.
- 360 BCE, Plato, The Republic, Book VIII.
- Good temperament and character.
- 1868, Charles Dickens, Bleak House
- The arrival of this unexpected heir soon taking wind in the court, still makes good for the Sol, and keeps the court upon its mettle.
- 1868, Charles Dickens, Bleak House
- (obsolete) Metal; a metallic substance.
- 1837, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, page 78
- They have neither gold nor silver of their own, wine nor oyl, or scarce any corn growing in those United Provinces, little or no wood, tin, lead, iron, silk, wooll, any stuff almost, or mettle; and yet Hungary, Transilvania, that brag of their mines, fertile England, cannot compare with them.
- 1837, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, page 78
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
a quality of endurance and courage
good temperament and character
metal — see metal