sabre-rattling
See also: sabre rattling
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- saber-rattling (mostly US), saber rattling (mostly US), sabre rattling
Etymology
[edit]From the early 20th century, when an officer would threaten to draw his sabre.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Noun
[edit]sabre-rattling (countable and uncountable, plural sabre-rattlings)
- (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
|
figuratively: any threat
|
See also
[edit]Verb
[edit]sabre-rattling
- present participle and gerund of sabre-rattle
Adjective
[edit]sabre-rattling (comparative more sabre-rattling, superlative most sabre-rattling)
- Bellicose; threatening military action.
- 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 121:
- But it excited much discontent in sabre-rattling court circles which regarded Austrophilia as the most un-French of diplomatic perversions.