keep your chin up
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Also seen as: keep one's chin up
Sense 1
Meaning · English
Remain cheerful.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Keep your chin up, girl, we're not lost yet. '
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Sense 2
Meaning · English
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.
Common questions
What does “keep your chin up” mean?
Remain cheerful.
Is “keep your chin up” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.