pluck up
Gather one's nerve
To pluck up is to summon or gather, especially courage or nerve: She plucked up the courage to ask for a raise.
The phrase suggests pulling something from within oneself, as if harvesting resolve that was buried.
Less commonly, pluck up means to uproot or pull out: plucking up weeds.
bravery
Boldness before danger
daring · fortitude · audacity · valor · fearlessness · spunk · mettle · grit · chutzpah · gallantry
courage and resolve
pluck uplose heart
Become discouraged or demoralized
chicken out · lose one's nerve · cower · back down · shrink back