keep your pecker up

keep (one's) pecker up

To maintain an optimistic, hopeful, or happy outlook on life, especially in the face of hardship or misfortune. Although "pecker" is a slang term for the penis, in this phrase it refers to the nose, by analogy with a beak. I know it's been a rough few months, but you have to keep your pecker up if you want things to improve! Come on, keep your pecker up, mate! There are plenty of other fish in the sea.
See also: keep, pecker, up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

keep your pecker up

BRITISH, INFORMAL
If someone tells you to keep your pecker up, they are encouraging you remain cheerful in a difficult situation. This phase will soon pass; keep you pecker up, be careful and think hard. Note: You can also say that someone keeps their pecker up if they manage to remain cheerful. The Scot was doing his best to keep his pecker up. Note: `Pecker' was a slang term for the nose, comparing it to a bird's beak. If someone is unhappy, they tend to look downwards so that their nose points towards the ground.
See also: keep, pecker, up
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

keep your pecker up

remain cheerful. British informal
Pecker is probably being used here in the sense of ‘a bird's beak or bill’, and by extension ‘a person's face or expression’. The phrase has been current in British English since the mid 19th century, but it has rather different connotations in the US, where pecker is an informal term for penis .
See also: keep, pecker, up
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • keep (one's) pecker up
  • pecker
  • pecker slap
  • have a rough trot
  • a rough trot
  • be a rough trot
  • a hard-luck story
  • Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, the
  • hard luck
  • dig (someone or oneself) out of a hole
References in periodicals archive
Plan a few secret games to keep your pecker up. Make a bet with your wife on how many times your mother-in-law will complain, or when your father-in-law will start snoring.
SEX DOCTOR: Show her you're fun
You have to keep your pecker up, but this could be my last chance."
Stranger could save Graham's life
WHEN your natural habitat has gone and you can't see the wood because of a lack of trees, you have to keep your pecker up.
NO TREES HERE..BUT KEEP YOUR PECKER UP
Keep your pecker up. Come on, be strong.'" BBC cameraman Billy Yates was found hanged in May after struggling with depression.
Work helps take Zoe's mind away from all the dark thoughts... I tell her to be strong; Dad support for star over lover's death
WHEN your natural habitat has gone and you can't see the wood for the lack of trees, you have to keep your pecker up.
Bird-brained travellers find that tree's a crowd
The singer, 21, tells 3am: "I'm convinced that in England, 'keep your pecker up' means, 'keep your chin up'.
KEEP IT UP, EZRA