Dutch courage

noun, Sometimes Offensive.
1.
courage inspired by drunkenness or drinking liquor.
Origin
1805-15
Usage note
Dutch courage is foolish courage or misplaced confidence. Because “Dutch” is used to imply that the courage is not genuine, the term is sometimes perceived as insulting to or by the Dutch. See also Dutch.
British Dictionary definitions for Dutch courage

Dutch courage

noun
1.
false courage gained from drinking alcohol
2.
alcoholic drink
Slang definitions & phrases for Dutch courage

Dutch courage

noun phrase

False or fleeting bravery resulting from liquor: A man in liquor is full of Dutch courage

[1820s+; like many other pejorative uses of Dutch, this comes from the 17th century, when the English and the Hollanders were chronically at war. In some uses, though, Dutch means ''German'' rather than ''Netherlandish,'' and the cases are not easily sorted]


Idioms and Phrases with Dutch courage

Dutch courage

False courage acquired by drinking liquor, as in He had a quick drink to give him Dutch courage. This idiom alludes to the reputed heavy drinking of the Dutch, and was first referred to in Edmund Waller's Instructions to a Painter (1665): “The Dutch their wine, and all their brandy lose, Disarm'd of that from which their courage grows.”