sabre-rattling
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English [edit]
Alternative forms [edit]
- saber-rattling (mostly US)
Etymology [edit]
From the early 20th century, when an officer would threaten to draw his sabre.
Noun [edit]
- (idiomatic) A flamboyant display of military power as an implied threat that it might be used.
- (idiomatic, figuratively) Any threat, such as one company threatening another with a lawsuit.
Translations [edit]
display of military power as an implied threat
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figuratively: any threat
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Adjective [edit]
sabre-rattling (comparative more sabre-rattling, superlative most sabre-rattling)
- Bellicose; threatening military action.
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 121:
- But it excited much discontent in sabre-rattling court circles which regarded Austrophilia as the most un-French of diplomatic perversions.
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin 2003, p. 121:
