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)

1. 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.

Related terms

• saber rattling
• saber-rattling
• sabre rattling
• sabre-rattling

 

Translations

to threaten a big battle or war

• Belarusian: бра́згаць збро́яй impf (brázhacʹ zbrójaj)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 耀武揚威／耀武扬威 (zh) (yàowǔ yángwēi), 炫耀武力 (xuànyào wǔlì)

• Finnish: kalistella sapeliaan
• German: Säbel rasseln
• Polish: grozić wojną impf
• Russian: бряца́ть ору́жием impf (brjacátʹ orúžijem)
• Ukrainian: бря́зкати збро́єю impf (brjázkaty zbrójeju)

Anagrams

• restartable, saber rattle, saber-rattle