Phrase guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
Chiefly preceded by get, give, take, etc.: courage or relief, especially when gained as a result of favour shown to one.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
History
Uncertain, possibly related to take heart (“to be courageous; to regain one’s courage”). It is unclear whether the original term was heart of grace, or perhaps hart of grace, heart of grease or hart of grease (“hart of the season when fat”), or hart (heart) of grass (perhaps alluding to a horse taking heart when finding grass), and of is sometimes replaced by at. Later uses have been influenced by grace (“free and undeserved favour”).
Across languages
1 source translations are retained for this English entry.
