brace up

brace up idiom
Also, brace oneself. Summon up one's courage or resolve, as in Brace up, we don't have much farther to go, or Squaring his shoulders, he braced himself for the next wave. This idiom uses brace in the sense of “to bolster” or “to strengthen.” The first term dates from the early 1700s, the variant from about 1500.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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