cowboy up

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

cowboy up (third-person singular simple present cowboys up, present participle cowboying up, simple past and past participle cowboyed up)

1. To deal with hardship with toughness and without complaining; man up.
   • 2004, Mary Ann Van Osdell, Hands Pointed Up, →ISBN, page 61:

     COWBOY UP!! Be a man, son. Walk it off, says the coach.

   • 2012, Mel Leslie, A Cowboy's Journey Through My Eyes: A Book of Poems, →ISBN, page 11:

     “Cowboy up!”, your excuses are gettin thin!

   • 2014, Sam Welch, What's Your Problem, Cowboy?, →ISBN:

     Now they think we can't cowboy up, but we could show'em a thang or three.

   • 2018 August 5, “Writers on the Range: To survive we need immigrants working the land”, in The Durango Herald:

     It's past time to cowboy up and do what's right, even if it means accepting the stigma involved in visibly and vocally standing up for good people like Paco and Lupe.

   • August 24, 2018, “A Suicide on the Farm”, in CNN:

     Men in rural America are taught to "cowboy up" and not speak of depression.

2. (idiomatic, LGBT) To put on a more heterosexual manner, in order to fit in.

Synonyms

(put on a heterosexual manner): hutch up