take on the chin

English edit

A reference to the sport of boxing.

take on the chin (third-person singular simple present takes on the chin, present participle taking on the chin, simple past took on the chin, past participle taken on the chin)

(idiomatic, transitive, UK) To accept without flinching or complaining.
- 2013 September 20, Holly Baxter, “Is masturbating in public a laughing matter?”, in The Guardian, retrieved 6 January 2014:
  Elsewhere in Sweden recently, two underage girls pressed charges when a teenage boy exposed himself to them at a lake. The court decided, despite the victims' testimonies, that the offence was "not of a sexual nature" and dismissed it. But I'm guessing the girls didn't push for molestation charges because they were censorious prudes who would grow into knowing how to take such behaviour on the chin – they felt genuinely threatened, they took their concerns to court, and they deserved more than being told that they'd misread the situation all along.
(idiomatic, transitive, US) To be deeply impacted by something.
- 2005 May 20, Robert David Kostoff, My Line Story, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 136:
  The situation seems to be designed so the taxpayers take it on the chin no matter what. District residents who vote down a budget believing they are voting against any tax raise still receive higher tax bills.