mettle
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Mettle \Met"tle\, n. [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.
[1913 Webster]
A certain critical hour which shall . . . try what
mettle his heart is made of. --South.
[1913 Webster]
Gentlemen of brave mettle. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The winged courser, like a generous horse,
Shows most true mettle when you check his course.
--Pope.
[1913 Webster]
{To put one one's mettle}, to cause or incite one to use
one's best efforts.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
92 Moby Thesaurus words for "mettle":
activity, animation, animus, aptitude, ardor, backbone, bent, bias,
bottom, brio, briskness, cast, character, chutzpah, constitution,
courage, dauntlessness, diathesis, disposition, eccentricity, elan,
enthusiasm, gameness, glow, grain, grit, gusto, guts, gutsiness,
guttiness, heart, heart of oak, idiosyncrasy, impetuosity, impetus,
inclination, individualism, intestinal fortitude, joie de vivre,
kidney, leaning, life, liveliness, lustiness, make, makeup,
mental set, mettlesomeness, mind, mind-set, mold, moxie, nature,
nerve, perkiness, pertness, pith, pluck, pluckiness, predilection,
predisposition, preference, proclivity, propensity, resolution,
robustness, set, slant, spirit, spiritedness, spunk, spunkiness,
stamina, stamp, stout heart, strain, streak, stripe, temper,
temperament, tendency, toughness, true grit, turn, turn of mind,
twist, type, vivacity, warmth, warp, zest, zestfulness
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