Etymology Journal ยท K
Keep your chin up
Meaning
- A supportive phrase used to tell someone to remain brave or optimistic during a hard time. It literally encourages a person to hold their head high.
Supportive, kind
Used in a sentence
- I know the job hunt is tough, but keep your chin up.
- Keep your chin up, things will get better after the holidays.
- She told her son to keep his chin up after the tough loss.
The backstory
This is a classic idiom from the 1920s. It reflects the physical tendency to look down when sad and the desire to reverse that posture to boost mood.
Heard in
Nationwide
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