zombola
02-01-2015, 02:24 PM
\ MET-l \ , noun;
1.
Courage and fortitude.
2.
Disposition or temperament.
Quotes: Who is so ignorant as not to know that knights-errant are beyond all jurisdiction, their only law their swords, while their charter is their mettle and their will is their decrees?
-- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
"--must do something to justify your existence," Marlene was saying to Tim, "and now is the chance to show your mettle. "
-- Muriel Spark, The Bachelors
Origin:
Mettle was used interchangeably with the material metal until the early 1700s. Mettle continued to be used in the figurative sense of "stuff of which a person is made" even as the spellings diverged.
1.
Courage and fortitude.
2.
Disposition or temperament.
Quotes: Who is so ignorant as not to know that knights-errant are beyond all jurisdiction, their only law their swords, while their charter is their mettle and their will is their decrees?
-- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
"--must do something to justify your existence," Marlene was saying to Tim, "and now is the chance to show your mettle. "
-- Muriel Spark, The Bachelors
Origin:
Mettle was used interchangeably with the material metal until the early 1700s. Mettle continued to be used in the figurative sense of "stuff of which a person is made" even as the spellings diverged.