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sabre-rattle

verb

Etymology

From the early 20th century, when an officer would threaten to draw his sabre.

Definitions

  1. To threaten a big battle or war.

    • 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,"
    • 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.
    • Do I want to change group norms (say to get higher output, or acceptance of change) or just sabre-rattle?

The neighborhood

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sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA