bring to do

bring (someone or oneself) to (do something)

1. To cause or inspire someone to take a particular action. A desire to help my community brought me to volunteer at the local soup kitchen. Your mother and I just cannot fathom what would bring you to disrespect us like that. I know, deep-down, that things have to seriously change in this town. That's what brought me to run for mayor.

2. To muster the courage or resolve to do something, typically something unpleasant or frightening. In this usage, a reflexive pronoun is used after "bring." I'm sorry, I just can't bring myself to eat snails. I know it's scary, but you have to bring yourself to ask your boss for a raise before he forgets that you coordinated that entire project yourself. You think I'm really gonna bring myself to hold a tarantula? Ha, that's a good one!

See also: bring, to

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

bring someone to do something

to cause someone to do something; to encourage someone to do something. What brought you to do this? I was brought to do this by a guilty conscience.

See also: bring, to

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.