lose heart—become discouraged; give up hope:
- Don’t lose heart if an ambition does not look like being realized.
Note: The expression is not antonymous in meaning to the phrase have a heart—
1. (usually imper.) be understanding and sympathetic; be reasonable:
- Have a heart! I can’t possibly get through that amount of work in such a short time.
2. (usually negat.) be cruel or courageous enough to do smth. (also: have the heart):
- When I got back, I felt better, but I didn’t have a heart to tell him to go home.
lose one’s heart—fall in love with a person:
- He wanted to buy a house before they got married, but while she was waiting she lost her heart to another man.