sabre-rattle
See also: sabre rattle
English
Alternative forms
- sabre rattle, saber-rattle, saber rattle, rattle the sabre, rattle the saber, rattle a sabre, rattle a saber, rattle one's sabre, rattle one's saber
Etymology
From the early 20th century, when an officer would threaten to draw his sabre.
Verb
sabre-rattle (third-person singular simple present sabre-rattles, present participle sabre-rattling, simple past and past participle sabre-rattled)
- 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.
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Related terms
- rattle
- saber
- saber-rattling
- saber rattling
- sabre
- sabre rattling
- sabre-rattling
Translations
to threaten a big battle or war
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Anagrams
- restartable, saber rattle, saber-rattle