BRANDISH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does brandish mean? 

• BRANDISH (noun)
  The noun BRANDISH has 1 sense:

1. the act of waving

  Familiarity information: BRANDISH used as a noun is very rare.

• BRANDISH (verb)
  The verb BRANDISH has 2 senses:

1. move or swing back and forth

2. exhibit aggressively

  Familiarity information: BRANDISH used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BRANDISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of waving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

brandish; flourish

Hypernyms ("brandish" is a kind of...):

wafture; wave; waving (the act of signaling by a movement of the hand)

Derivation:

brandish (move or swing back and forth)

• BRANDISH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they brandish    ... he / she / it brandishes   
Past simple: brandished   
Past participle: brandished   
-ing form: brandishing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Move or swing back and forth

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

brandish; flourish; wave

Context example:

She waved her gun

Hypernyms (to "brandish" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

"Brandish" entails doing...:

hold; take hold (have or hold in one's hands or grip)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "brandish"):

wigwag (send a signal by waving a flag or a light according to a certain code)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

brandish (the act of waving)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Exhibit aggressively

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

brandish a sword

Hypernyms (to "brandish" is one way to...):

display; exhibit; expose (to show, make visible or apparent)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

As he spoke, the vast throng of Spaniards and of Frenchmen trooped across the plain, with brandished arms and tossing banners.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have seen this whole body of horse, upon a word of command, draw their swords at once, and brandish them in the air.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

And then all of a sudden he broke out in a great flame of anger, stamping with his foot, brandishing the cane, and carrying on (as the maid described it) like a madman.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Up the long slope rushed ranks and ranks of men exultant, shouting, with waving pennons and brandished arms.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The company was completed by a peasant in a rude dress of undyed sheepskin, with the old-fashioned galligaskins about his legs, and a gayly dressed young man with striped cloak jagged at the edges and parti-colored hosen, who looked about him with high disdain upon his face, and held a blue smelling-flask to his nose with one hand, while he brandished a busy spoon with the other.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)