Part of Speech: verb
Pronunciation: ['bræn-dish]
Definition: To wave or otherwise display ostentatiously, flashily; to wield or flourish defiantly.
Usage: Today's word is about body language and implies someone is carrying an object with emphasis, so that it cannot be ignored, "Delores stumbled into the room brandishing a brandy glass that obviously had been filled several times." Generally, you can brandish only what is held in the hand, "Cord entered the room brandishing a pen as though he were going to sign the contract but we ended up just making more revisions."
Suggested Usage: Today's word does not come from "brand," though it is related in a round-about way to the original meaning of that word (as in branding livestock). It comes from a French word meaning "sword," hence refers to movements like those associated with wielding a sword. One who brandishes is a brandisher.
Etymology: Today's word originates in Old French brandir, brandiss-, from brand "sword." The French word "brand," however, was borrowed from a Germanic language, possibly Dutch branden "to burn, distill" (or temper steel) which gave us "brandy." The root clearly goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gwher-/gwhor- "heat, burn" which became thermos "warm, hot" in Greek, found in English "thermometer," "hypothermy" and "Lobster Thermidor. The initial [gwh] of this stem became [f] in Latin, hence the Latin word fornax "oven" which underlies our word "furnace." Finally, in the Germanic languages the initial consonant became [b], as in "burn" (German "brennen") and "brand."
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