mettlesome

English

Etymology

From mettle +‎ -some.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmɛtəlsəm/
  • Rhymes: -ɛtəlsəm
  • Hyphenation: met‧tle‧some

Adjective

mettlesome (comparative more mettlesome, superlative most mettlesome)

  1. Marked by mettle or bravery; courageous.
    • 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter 6, in Uncle Tom's Cabin:
      The instant Haley touched the saddle, the mettlesome creature bounded from the earth with a sudden spring, that threw his master sprawling, some feet off, on the soft, dry turf.
    • 1948 September and October, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 334:
      Among them was the "West Country" driver, Swain, of Bude, over the Great Central, who reminded me irresistibly of a hunter putting a particularly mettlesome steed at the fences.

Derived terms

Translations

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