put a stout heart to a stey brae
- put a stout heart to a stey brae
A Scottish proverb also used as a metaphorical phrase. A stey brae is a ‘steep slope’.
a 1585 A. MONTGOMERIE Cherry & Sloe (1821) xxxvi. So gets ay, that sets ay, Stout stomackis to the brae.
1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 287 Set a stout Heart to a stay Brea. Set about a difficult Business with Courage and Constancy.
1821 J. GALT Annals of Parish i. I began a round of visitations; but oh, it was a steep brae that I had to climb, and it needed a stout heart. For I found the doors..barred against me.
1916 J. BUCHAN Greenmantle xii. He..shouted to me..to ‘pit a stoot hert tae a stey brae’.
1937 S. SCOTT Crazy Murder Show v. Like the walls of Jericho, their resistance will eventually crumble if you peg away long enough. A stout heart to a stey brae, as my Inverness grandmother used to say.
Proverbs new dictionary.
Look at other dictionaries:
heart — see absence makes the heart grow fonder cold hands, warm heart what the eye doesn’t see, the heart doesn’t grieve over faint heart never won fair lady out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks home is where th … Proverbs new dictionary
put — see don’t put the cart before the horse never put off till tomorrow what you can do today don’t put all your eggs in one basket you can’t put new wine in old bottles you cannot put an old head on young shoulders … Proverbs new dictionary
stey — (steep) see put a stout heart to a stey brae … Proverbs new dictionary
brae — (slope, hill side) see put a stout heart to a stey brae … Proverbs new dictionary
stout — see put a stout heart to a stey brae … Proverbs new dictionary
Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs, Thematic Index — absence absence makes the heart grow fonder he who is absent is always in the wrong the best of friends must part blue are the hills that are far away distance lends enchantment to the view out of sight, out of mind … Proverbs new dictionary
