Sabre-rattle
verb
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Verb
- 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,""
Example
More examples"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,""
Etymology
From the early 20th century, when an officer would threaten to draw his sabre.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.