derring-do

noun
🔊/ˌderɪŋ ˈduː/
🔊/ˌderɪŋ ˈduː/
[uncountable] (old-fashioned or humorous)
jump to other results
  1. brave actions, like those in adventure stories大胆冒险行为;英勇行为
    • tales of derring-do关于英勇事迹的故事。
    Topics Personal qualitiesc2
    Word Originlate 16th cent.: from late Middle English dorryng do ‘daring to do’, used by Chaucer, and, in a passage by Lydgate based on Chaucer's work, misprinted in 16th-cent. editions as derrynge do; this was misinterpreted by Spenser to mean ‘manhood, chivalry’, and subsequently taken up and popularized by Sir Walter Scott.