Mettle

WOTD - 5 January 2010    

English

Etymology

Originally a variant of metal.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /ˈmɛt.l̩/
• Rhymes: -ɛtəl
• Homophones: metal
• Homophones: medal, meddle (in accents with flapping)

Noun

Singular Mettle

Plural -

Mettle (-)

1. A quality of endurance and courage.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Life of Henry the Fifth, act iv, scene 8 (First Folio ed.)

     By this Day and this Light, the fellow ha's mettell enough in his belly.

   • 2001, Harry J. Alexandrowicz, Testing your Mettle: Tough Problems and Real-world Solutions for Middle and High School Teachers, page xiii

     Please read on and discover the issues in education that test the mettle of those who experience this world every day.

2. Good temperament and character.
   • 1868, Charles Dickens, Bleak House

     The arrival of this unexpected heir soon taking wind in the court, still makes good for the Sol, and keeps the court upon its mettle.

3. (obsolete) Metal; a metallic substance.
   • 1837, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, page 78

     They have neither gold nor silver of their own, wine nor oyl, or scarce any corn growing in those United Provinces, little or no wood, tin, lead, iron, silk, wooll, any stuff almost, or mettle; and yet Hungary, Transilvania, that brag of their mines, fertile England, cannot compare with them.

Synonyms

• (quality of endurance and courage): courage, heart, spirit

Related terms

• mettlesome

Translations

a quality of endurance and courage

Dutch: moed nl(nl) Finnish: lujahermoisuus fi(fi), rohkeus fi(fi)

German: Mut de(de) m., Eifer de(de) m., Enthusiasmus de(de) m., Stamina de(de) f. Russian: пыл ru(ru) m., рвение ru(ru) n., выносливость ru(ru) f.

good temperament and character

Dutch: temperament nl(nl), karakter nl(nl)

Finnish: sopuisuus fi(fi)

metal — see metal

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: temple es(es) m. (1-2), ánimo es(es) m. (1), templanza es(es) f. (2),

fr:mettle io:mettle lt:mettle ml:mettle ru:mettle fi:mettle ta:mettle te:mettle vi:mettle zh:mettle