courage n [OED2 courage n. 3.e 1541→ “Obs.”; EDD courage sb. 1 (in var compounds)] Sth, S Midl
Sexual potency or desire. Note: This sense is also implied in the compound courage bump n, which is attested much earlier.
1974 Morton Folk Remedies 143 SC, “Strong Man Sampson”—Sida rhombifolia. . . Plant is boiled for “tea,” drunk as a beverage. . . [T]he liquid is also taken by men to increase their “courage” (potency). 1981 Broaddus Coll. ceKY (as of 1958), Courage—sexual desire. 1982 NADS Letters swVA (as of c1950), A male, white farmer, 55–60 years of age, no more than grade school education, went to see a psychiatrist in Richmond, VA, about a sexual problem, and explained to the nurse [informant’s mother] that he “couldn’t get his courage up.” Ibid, As a boy in southern Virginia, I heard courage used to refer to . . potency as well as to sexual desire. 1984 Annals Internal Med. 100.900 cwAL, Loss of courage still means loss of sexual desire or potency. 1990 Cavender Folk Med. Lexicon 20 sAppalachians, Courage—(male specific) sexual drive, impotency [sic]: “Doc, I’ve lost my courage.”