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Glite Dictionary
to put hair on your chest

to put hair on your chest

2 9.9
Make someone feel tougher or more manly, often said as a joke
  • idiom
  • UK
translation icon : te hará más fuerte
  • Roughing it will put hair on your chest.

Examples

Synonyms

to grow some balls
vsto put hair on your chest
  • Offensive
4 9.9

To become braver and act when you are afraid

is about gaining toughness and manliness in a playful exaggerated way
to strap on a pair
vsto put hair on your chest
  • Slang
9.9

To be brave enough to do something difficult

is more about becoming physically tougher or manly often jokingly

Antonyms

to weaken
305 2.8

To make people and things less strong or effective

to soften
50 3.1

Make something less strong or harsh

How Tough

to harden
57 3.9
to put hair on your chest
  • UK
2 9.9
to toughen up
  • Informal
17 4.2

Surface Forms

put hair on your chest infinitive
put hair on your chest past
put hair on your chest past participle
putting hair on your chest present participle
puts hair on your chest third person singular

Morphology

put + hair + on + your + chest

The literal combination of 'put' + 'hair' + 'on your chest' is clear, but the idiomatic meaning (to make someone tougher or more manly) depends on cultural knowledge that chest hair signals masculinity. A B1 learner who only knows the constituent words may guess a literal action but would likely not derive the conventionalized metaphorical sense without exposure, so the expression is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The phrase put hair on your chest may come from a funny old idea: people imagined that doing hard or brave things would make hair grow on the chest, a clear picture of being manly. So today it means 'to make someone stronger, tougher, or more manly', often said as a joke.