sabre-rattling
See also: sabre rattling
English
Alternative forms
- saber-rattling(mostly US), saber rattling(mostly US), sabre rattling
Etymology
From the early 20th century, when an officer would threaten to draw his sabre.
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun
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
display of military power as an implied threat
|
figuratively: any threat
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See also
- gunboat diplomacy
Verb
sabre-rattling
- present participle of sabre-rattle
Adjective
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:
Related terms
- rattle
- rattle a saber
- rattle a sabre
- rattle one's saber
- rattle one's sabre
- rattle the saber
- rattle the sabre
- rattling
- saber
- sabering
- saber-rattle
- saber rattle
- sabre
- sabre rattle
- sabre-rattle
- sabring
Anagrams
- saber rattling, saber-rattling