brave
See also: bravé
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself either from Provençal brau (“show-off”), from Gaulish *bragos (compare Middle Irish breagha (modern breá) 'fine', Breton braga 'to strut') or from Latin *bravus, from a fusion of pravus and barbarus into a root *bravus. Or else misread from Latin brana,[1] from Gaulish brahaigne, "barren".[2]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
brave (comparative braver, superlative bravest)
- Strong in the face of fear; courageous.
-
1578–1579, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale. [...] Dedicated to the Right Honorable the Ladie Compton and Mountegle”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. Whereof the Next Page Maketh Mention[1], London: Imprinted for VVilliam Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Bishops head, published 1591, OCLC 84758486:
- For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.
- 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Chapter 21:
- Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I need your help.
- 1987, Michael Grumley, The Last Diary:
- […] he has been so brave, giving it all a dignity.
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- (obsolete) Having any sort of superiority or excellence.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
- Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth.
- Samuel Pepys (1633-1703)
- It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall.
- Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
- Making a fine show or display.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- Wear my dagger with the braver grace.
- Robert Greene (1558-1592)
- For I have gold, and therefore will be brave. / In silks I'll rattle it of every color.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
- Frog and lizard in holiday coats / And turtle brave in his golden spots.
- 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter IV:
- So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
Synonyms[edit]
- (courageous): doughty, orped, resilient, stalwart. See also Wikisaurus:brave
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
strong in the face of fear
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Noun[edit]
brave (plural braves)
- (dated, possibly offensive) A Native American warrior.
- (obsolete) A man daring beyond discretion; a bully.
- John Dryden
- Hot braves like thee may fight.
- John Dryden
- (obsolete) A challenge; a defiance; bravado.
- William Shakespeare
- Demetrius, thou dost overween in all; / And so in this, to bear me down with braves.
- William Shakespeare
Translations[edit]
native American warrior
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Verb[edit]
brave (third-person singular simple present braves, present participle braving, simple past and past participle braved)
- (transitive) To encounter with courage and fortitude, to defy.
- (Can we date this quote?), John Dryden
- These I can brave, but those I can not bear.
- 1773, A Farmer, Rivington's New-York Gazetteer, Number 53, December 2
- […] but they [Parliament] never will be braved into it.
- After braving tricks on the high-dive, he braved a jump off the first diving platform.
- (Can we date this quote?), John Dryden
- (transitive, obsolete) To adorn; to make fine or showy.
- (Can we date this quote?), Shakespeare
- Thou [a tailor whom Grunio was browbeating] hast braved many men; brave not me; I'll neither be faced or braved.
- (Can we date this quote?), Shakespeare
Translations[edit]
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
Derived terms[edit]
Esperanto[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Adverb[edit]
brave
Etymology 2[edit]
Interjection[edit]
brave
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Probably borrowed from Italian bravo, itself from a Latin *bravus, a fusion of prāvus and barbarus. Compare Spanish, Portuguese bravo.
Pronunciation[edit]
-
audio (file)
Adjective[edit]
brave (plural braves)
Synonyms[edit]
Noun[edit]
brave m (plural braves)
Related terms[edit]
Anagrams[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “brave” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
German[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
- Rhymes: -aːvə
Adjective[edit]
brave
- inflected form of brav
Italian[edit]
Adjective[edit]
brave f pl
Norman[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Late Latin *bravus.
Adjective[edit]
brave m, f
Derived terms[edit]
- bravement (“bravely”)
Categories:
- English terms derived from French
- English terms derived from Italian
- English terms derived from Provençal
- English terms derived from Gaulish
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English dated terms
- English offensive terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English basic words
- Esperanto words suffixed with -e
- Esperanto lemmas
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- Esperanto interjections
- French terms derived from Italian
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French adjectives
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
- German non-lemma forms
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- Italian non-lemma forms
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- Norman terms derived from Late Latin
- Norman lemmas
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