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sabre-rattling

noun

Etymology

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

Definitions

  1. A flamboyant display of military power as an implied threat that it might be used.

  2. Any threat, such as one company threatening another with a lawsuit.

  3. present participle and gerund of sabre-rattle

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Bellicose

      Bellicose; threatening military action.

      • But it excited much discontent in sabre-rattling court circles which regarded Austrophilia as the most un-French of diplomatic perversions.

The neighborhood

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