Word.ws English Dictionary

grow a pair

grow a pair verb: to be brave; to show some courage, especially in a situation in which one has so far failed to do so.

Verb

grow a pair (third-person singular simple present grows a pair, present participle growing a pair, simple past grew a pair, past participle grown a pair)

  1. (US, colloquial, idiomatic, vulgar) To be brave; to show some courage, especially in a situation in which one has so far failed to do so.

Synonyms of grow a pair

Forms of grow a pair

third-person singular presentgrows a pair
present participlegrowing a pair
pastgrew a pair
past participlegrown a pair

Origin of grow a pair

Clipping of grow a pair of balls.

Questions about grow a pair

What does grow a pair mean?
Grow a pair means to be brave; to show some courage, especially in a situation in which one has so far failed to do so.
What part of speech is grow a pair?
Grow a pair is a verb.
What is the past tense of grow a pair?
The past tense of grow a pair is grew a pair.

Words near grow a pair in the dictionary

  1. grovets
  2. groving
  3. grovy
  4. grow
  5. grow a custom
  6. grow a pair
  7. grow a set
  8. grow a tail
  9. grow apart
  10. grow away from
  11. grow bag

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: grow a pair (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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