Brandish Meaning
/ˈbɹændɪʃ/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo move or swing a weapon back and forth, particularly if demonstrating anger, threat or skill.
verbTo bear something with ostentatious show.
Sentence Examples
You dare brandish your weapons in front of your king?
CEFR Practice Quiz
The angry protester began to ____ a stick, threatening the security guards.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The knight began to ____ his sharp sword as the enemy approached tonight.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English braundischen, from Old French brandiss-, stem of brandir (“to flourish a sword”), from Frankish *brandijan, from Frankish *brand (“firebrand; sword”), from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (“fire; flame; sword”), whence Old English brand (“firebrand; torch”); equivalent to brand + -ish. More at brand.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Hvng be yͤ heauens vvith black, yield day to night; / Comets importing change of Times and States, / Brandiſh your cryſtall Treſſes in the Skie, / And vvith them ſcourge the bad reuolting Stars, / That haue conſented vnto Henries Death: / King Henry the Fift, too famous to liue long, / England ne're loſt a King of ſo much vvorth."
— 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 96, column 1:
"the quivering lance which he brandished bright"
— 1819, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay:
"Back, he spurred like a madman, shouting a curse to the sky, / With the white road smoking behind him, and his rapier brandished high! / Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat; […]"
— 1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 2, stanza IX, page 53:
"Long, however, the young ſpark did not remain, before, giving it [his penis] two or three ſhakes, by way of brandiſhing it, he threw himſelf upon her, […]"
— 1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 66:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The angry protester began to ____ a stick, threatening the security guards.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The knight began to ____ his sharp sword as the enemy approached tonight.