sticking place

Also called sticking point. the place or point at which something stops and holds firm.

the place in the lower part of an animal's neck where the knife is thrust in slaughtering.

Origin of sticking place

First recorded in 1570–80

Evidently, he was endeavouring to screw his courage to the sticking-place.

Mated from the Morgue |John Augustus O'Shea
At the appointed hour next morning, the young man, screwing up his courage to the sticking-place, knocked at the door of Oaklands.

Crestlands |Mary Addams Bayne
Macbeth “screwed his courage up to the sticking-place” indeed, and then and there was the end of the life of Duncan.

ZigZag Journeys in Northern Lands; |Hezekiah Butterworth
But as he again approached with courage screwed to the sticking-place, a spruce hansom dashed up before him.

The Argosy |Various

She taunted him as being a coward, and told him to “screw his courage up to the sticking-place, and he would not fail.”

ZigZag Journeys in Northern Lands; |Hezekiah Butterworth