pluck up one's courage

Idioms and Phrases

Also, screw up one's courage . Force oneself to overcome fear or timidity, as in He was really afraid of slipping on the ice, but he plucked up his courage and ventured down the driveway , or I screwed up my courage and dove off the high board . The first term uses pluck in the sense of “make a forcible effort”; Shakespeare put it as “Pluck up thy spirits” ( The Taming of the Shrew , 4:3). The variant derives from the use of screw to mean “force or strain by means of a screw.”