Meaning
Boldness or confidence gained from drinking alcohol rather than from actual bravery, often with the implication that it is fleeting or foolhardy. It can describe both the false courage itself and a stiff drink taken before a daunting task. Informal and wry; mildly derogatory toward the drinker, and the 'Dutch' element survives as a historical artefact rather than an ethnic jibe. Regional use: General English, strongest in British English.
Origin
The phrase belongs to a family of 'Dutch' insults coined by the English during the era of Anglo-Dutch rivalry in the late seventeenth century, alongside terms like 'Dutch bargain' and 'Dutch treat'. A popular story holds that it comes from English sailors discovering gin while fighting in Holland, but The Phrase Finder explicitly rejects this, noting instead that the expression arose from English derision of the Dutch. It came into use in the early nineteenth century, after the Anglo-Dutch wars had ended, chiefly among sailors; the first known print example is from the London Courier and Evening Gazette of June 1814, in a naval report quoting sailors who threw their grog overboard saying they 'did not require Dutch courage to engage a Yankee'. The Dutch connection to drink is real in the background: gin derives from the Dutch juniper spirit 'jenever', distilled in Holland from the sixteenth century.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a dose of Dutch courage
- Dutch valor
- liquid courage
- take some Dutch courage
Usage Examples
- He needed a shot of Dutch courage before asking his boss for a raise.
- Her cheerful speech at the party was fuelled by more Dutch courage than preparation.
- Don't confuse Dutch courage with genuine confidence; one evaporates by morning.