Word.ws English Dictionary

kept one's pecker up

kept one's pecker up is the simple past and past participle of keep one's pecker up.

Meaning of keep one's pecker up

Verb

keep one's pecker up (third-person singular simple present keeps one's pecker up, present participle keeping one's pecker up, simple past and past participle kept one's pecker up)

  1. (UK, idiomatic) To remain cheerful; keep smiling.
    • “Of course you will,” said Wraysford, cheerily; “it’s hard lines at first. Keep your pecker up, young ’un.” The young ’un, despite this friendly advice, felt very far from keeping up his pecker. But he did his best, and worked his face into a melancholy sort of a smile.1880, Talbot Baines Reed, The Fifth Form at Saint Dominic's

Questions about kept one's pecker up

What is kept one's pecker up the simple past and past participle of?
Kept one's pecker up is the simple past and past participle of keep one's pecker up.

Words near kept one's pecker up in the dictionary

  1. kept one's nerve
  2. kept one's nose clean
  3. kept one's options open
  4. kept one's own counsel
  5. kept one's pants on
  6. kept one's pecker up
  7. kept one's powder dry
  8. kept one's shirt on
  9. kept one's side of the bargain
  10. kept one's stick on the ice
  11. kept one's temper

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: kept one's pecker up (page history and authors); keep one's pecker up (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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