She tried to 'put on/up a brave face/front' [=she tried to appear brave or calm] despite the pain of the injury.
The company was slow to enter the 'brave new world' of computer technology.
I had to 'brave the elements' [=go out in bad weather] to get to work.
(..) - What's your smoke? - Americans. Cut the news, Alfredo! The men and women who fought in secret-- brave guerrillas, reunited in Rome... for the first Resistance Rally. What does it say? l'm illiterate. You, too? (..)1988 Cinema Paradiso