Stiff Upper Lip (Gershwin song)
WordNet
noun
(1) Self-restraint in the expression of emotion (especially fear or grief)
"The British like to keep a stiff upper lip"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
American in origin; earliest known use in 1815 http://books.google.com/books?id=mZASAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA509&dq=%22stiff+upper+lip%22.
Noun
- The quality of being resolute and showing self-restraint, associated with stereotypical British people.
- 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, page 130
- I thought now the jig was mighty nigh up with me, but I determined to keep a stiff upper lip.
- 1900, Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, page 49
- A man may go pretty near through his whole sea-life without any call to show a stiff upper lip.
- 2005, Ben Wright with Michael Patrick Shiels, Good Bounces and Bad Lies, page 39
- In typical British stiff upper lip fashion, the tournament organizers expected us to play into, and through, the menacing weather.
- 1834, David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett, page 130