sabre-rattle

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: sabre rattle

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From the early 20th century, when an officer would threaten to draw his sabre.

Verb

[edit]

sabre-rattle (third-person singular simple present sabre-rattles, present participle sabre-rattling, simple past and past participle sabre-rattled)

  1. To threaten a big battle or war.
    • 1969, Lawrence Edmund Spivak, Meet the Press: America's Press Conference of the Air:
      Then you speak of "the President's spread-eagle patriotism," his delight in "barnyard language," his "readiness to sabre-rattle at the ripple of a flag,"
    • 1980, Optical Spectra - Volume 14, page 164:
      The Chinese and the Russians sabre-rattle like mad against each other, but they both seem to be super-practical countries in that they trade with each other when they need to.
    • 1991, Robert Arthur Lee, Peter Lawrence, Politics at work, page 91:
      Do I want to change group norms (say to get higher output, or acceptance of change) or just sabre-rattle?
    • 2013, John Andrew Fredrick, The King of Good Intentions, page 105:
      If I go in all confident, all don't-even-think-of-fucking-with-me, they'll rabble-rouse and sabre-rattle to beat the band.
[edit]

Translations

[edit]

Anagrams

[edit]