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Flourish definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FLOURISH, v.i. flur'ish. [L. floresco, from floreo. The primary sense is to open, expand, enlarge, or to shoot out, as in glory, L. ploro.]
1. To thrive; to grow luxuriantly; to increase and enlarge, as a healthy growing plant. The beech and the maple flourish best in a deep, rich and moist loam.
2. To be prosperous; to increase in wealth or honor.
Bad men as frequently prosper and flourish, and that by the means of their wickedness.
When all the workers of iniquity do flourish. Psalms 92.
3. To grow in grace and in good works; to abound in the consolations of religion.
The righteous shall flourish like the palmtree. Psalms 92.
4. To be in a prosperous state; to grow or be augmented. We say agriculture flourishes, commerce flourishes, manufactures flourish.
5. To use florid language; to make a display of figures and lofty expressions; to be copious and flowery.
They dilate and flourish long on little incidents.
6. To make bold strokes in writing; to make large and irregular lines; as, to flourish with the pen.
7. To move or play in bold and irregular figures.
Impetuous spread the stream, and smoking, flourished o're his head.
8. In music, to play with bold and irregular notes, or without settled form; as, to flourish on an organ or violin.
9. To boast; to vaunt; to brag.
FLOURISH, v.t. flur'ish.
1. To adorn with flowers or beautiful figures, either natural or artificial; to ornament with any thing showy.
2. To spread out; to enlarge into figures.
3. To move in bold or irregular figures; to move in circles or vibrations by way of show or triumph; to brandish; as, to flourish a sword.
4. To embellish with the flowers of diction; to adorn with rhetorical figures; to grace with ostentatious eloquence; to set off with a parade of words.
5. To adorn; to embellish.
6. To mark with a flourish or irregular stroke.
The day book and inventory book shall be flourished.
FLOURISH, n. flur'ish.
1. Beauty; showy splendor.
The flourish of his sober youth.
2. Ostentatious embellishment; ambitious copiousness or amplification; parade of words and figures; show; as a flourish of rhetoric; a flourish of wit.
He lards with flourishes his long harangue.
3. Figures formed by bold, irregular lines, or fanciful strokes of the pen or graver; as the flourishes about a great letter.
4. A brandishing; the waving of a weapon or other thing; as the flourish of a sword.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a showy gesture; "she entered with a great flourish"
2: an ornamental embellishment in writing
3: a display of ornamental speech or language
4: the act of waving [syn: flourish, brandish]
5: (music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments; "he entered to a flourish of trumpets"; "her arrival was greeted with a rousing fanfare" [syn: flourish, fanfare, tucket] v
1: grow vigorously; "The deer population in this town is thriving"; "business is booming" [syn: boom, thrive, flourish, expand]
2: make steady progress; be at the high point in one's career or reach a high point in historical significance or importance; "The new student is thriving" [syn: thrive, prosper, fly high, flourish]
3: move or swing back and forth; "She waved her gun" [syn: brandish, flourish, wave]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: Middle English florisshen, from Anglo-French fluriss-, stem of flurir, florir, from Vulgar Latin *florire, alteration of Latin flor?re, from flor-, flos flower Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. to grow luxuriantly ; thrive 2. a. to achieve success ; prosper <a flourishing business> b. to be in a state of activity or production <flourished around 1850> c. to reach a height of development or influence 3. to make bold and sweeping gestures transitive verb to wield with dramatic gestures ; brandish Synonyms: see swing • flourisher noun • flourishingly adverb II. noun Date: circa 1552 1. an act or instance of brandishing or waving 2. a. a florid bit of speech or writing <rhetorical flourishes> b. an ornamental stroke in writing or printing c. a decorative or finishing detail <a house with clever little flourishes> 3. fanfare 4. a. a period of thriving b. a luxuriant growth or profusion <a flourish of white hair> <a springtime flourish of color> 5. showiness in the doing of something <opened the door with a flourish> 6. a sudden burst <a flourish of activity>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 intr. a grow vigorously; thrive. b prosper; be successful. c be in one's prime. d be in good health. 2 intr. (usu. foll. by in, at, about) spend one's life; be active (at a specified time) (flourished in the Middle Ages) (cf. FLORUIT). 3 tr. show ostentatiously (flourished his cheque-book). 4 tr. wave (a weapon, one's limbs, etc.) vigorously. --n. 1 an ostentatious gesture with a weapon, a hand, etc. (removed his hat with a flourish). 2 an ornamental curving decoration of handwriting. 3 a florid verbal expression; a rhetorical embellishment. 4 Mus. a a fanfare played by brass instruments. b an ornate musical passage. c an extemporized addition played esp. at the beginning or end of a composition. 5 archaic an instance of prosperity; a flourishing. Derivatives: flourisher n. flourishy adj. Etymology: ME f. OF florir ult. f. L florere f. flos floris flower

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flourish Flour"ish, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flourished; p. pr. & vb. n. Flourishing.] [OE. florisshen, flurisshen, OF. flurir, F. fleurir, fr. L. florere to bloom, fr. flos, floris, flower. See Flower, and -ish.] 1. To grow luxuriantly; to increase and enlarge, as a healthy growing plant; a thrive. A tree thrives and flourishes in a kindly . . . soil. --Bp. Horne. 2. To be prosperous; to increase in wealth, honor, comfort, happiness, or whatever is desirable; to thrive; to be prominent and influental; specifically, of authors, painters, etc., to be in a state of activity or production. When all the workers of iniquity do flourish. --Ps. xcii 7 Bad men as frequently prosper and flourish, and that by the means of their wickedness. --Nelson. We say Of those that held their heads above the crowd, They flourished then or then. --Tennyson. 3. To use florid language; to indulge in rhetorical figures and lofty expressions; to be flowery. They dilate . . . and flourish long on little incidents. --J. Watts. 4. To make bold and sweeping, fanciful, or wanton movements, by way of ornament, parade, bravado, etc.; to play with fantastic and irregular motion. Impetuous spread The stream, and smoking flourished o'er his head. --Pope. 5. To make ornamental strokes with the pen; to write graceful, decorative figures. 6. To execute an irregular or fanciful strain of music, by way of ornament or prelude. Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish thus? --Shak. 7. To boast; to vaunt; to brag. --Pope.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flourish Flour"ish, v. t. 1. To adorn with flowers orbeautiful figures, either natural or artificial; to ornament with anything showy; to embellish. [Obs.] --Fenton. 2. To embellish with the flowers of diction; to adorn with rhetorical figures; to grace with ostentatious eloquence; to set off with a parade of words. [Obs.] Sith that the justice of your title to him Doth flourish the deceit. --Shak. 3. To move in bold or irregular figures; to swing about in circles or vibrations by way of show or triumph; to brandish. And flourishes his blade in spite of me. --Shak. 4. To develop; to make thrive; to expand. [Obs.] Bottoms of thread . . . which with a good needle, perhaps may be flourished into large works. --Bacon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Flourish Flour"ish, n.; pl. Flourishes. 1. A flourishing condition; prosperity; vigor. [Archaic] The Roman monarchy, in her highest flourish, never had the like. --Howell. 2. Decoration; ornament; beauty. The flourish of his sober youth Was the pride of naked truth. --Crashaw. 3. Something made or performed in a fanciful, wanton, or vaunting manner, by way of ostentation, to excite admiration, etc.; ostentatious embellishment; ambitious copiousness or amplification; parade of words and figures; show; as, a flourish of rhetoric or of wit. He lards with flourishes his long harangue. --Dryden. 4. A fanciful stroke of the pen or graver; a merely decorative figure. The neat characters and flourishes of a Bible curiously printed. --Boyle. 5. A fantastic or decorative musical passage; a strain of triumph or bravado, not forming part of a regular musical composition; a cal; a fanfare. A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums! --Shak. 6. The waving of a weapon or other thing; a brandishing; as, the flourish of a sword.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(flourishes, flourishing, flourished) 1. If something flourishes, it is successful, active, or common, and developing quickly and strongly. Business flourished and within six months they were earning 18,000 roubles a day... = thrive ? flounder VERB: V • flourishing London quickly became a flourishing port. ADJ 2. If a plant or animal flourishes, it grows well or is healthy because the conditions are right for it. The plant flourishes particularly well in slightly harsher climes. = thrive VERB: V • flourishing Britain has the largest and most flourishing fox population in Europe. ADJ 3. If you flourish an object, you wave it about in a way that makes people notice it. He flourished the glass to emphasize the point. VERB: V n • Flourish is also a noun. He took his peaked cap from under his arm with a flourish and pulled it low over his eyes. N-COUNT 4. If you do something with a flourish, you do in a showy way so that people notice it. N-COUNT

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

flur'-ish (parach, tsuts; anathallo):

The translation of parach, "to break forth" (Ps 72:7; 92:12,13; Pr 14:11; Isa 66:14; So 6:11; 7:12; the Revised Version (British and American) "budded"); of tsuts "to bloom" (Ps 72:16, 90:6; 92:7; 103:15; 132:18); ra`anan, "green," "fresh," is translated "flourishing" in Ps 92:14, the Revised Version (British and American) "green," and ra`anan, Aramaic in Da 4:4; nubh, "to sprout" (Zec 9:17, the King James Version "cheerful").

In an interesting passage (Ec 12:5 the King James Version), the Hiphil future of na'ats, meaning properly "to pierce or strike," hence, to slight or reject, is translated "flourish"; it is said of the old man "The almond tree shall flourish," the Revised Version (British and American) "blossom" (so Ewald, Delitzsch, etc.); na'ats has nowhere else this meaning; it is frequently rendered "contemn;" "despise," etc. Other renderings are, "shall cause loathing" (Gesenius, Knobel, etc.), "shall be despised," i.e. the hoary head; "The almond tree shall shake off its flowers," the silvery hairs falling like the fading white flowers of the almond tree; by others it is taken to indicate "sleeplessness," the name of the almond tree (shaqedh) meaning the watcher or early riser (compare Jer 1:11, "a rod of an almond-tree," literally, "a wakeful (or early) tree"), the almond being the first of the trees to wake from the sleep of winter.

See ALMOND.

"Flourish" appears once only in the New Testament, in the King James Version, as translation of anathallo, "to put forth anew," or "to make put forth anew" (Php 4:10): "Your care for me hath flourished again," the Revised Version (British and American) "Ye have revived your thought for me."

W. L. Walker

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. 1. Thrive, grow. 2. Prosper, succeed, be successful, go on well. 3. Boast, brag, vaunt, vapor, gasconade, bluster, make a show, be ostentatious, show off, cut a dash, make a flourish. 4. Attain one's prime, be at the height of one's powers, be in vigor, exercise one's full powers. II. v. a. Brandish, wave. III. n. 1. Ostentation, parade, show, display, dash. 2. Bombast, grandiloquence, altiloquence, fustian, flowery speech, high-sounding words. 3. Fanciful strokes (of a pen, etc.).

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To take a flourish; to enjoy a woman in a hasty manner, to take a flyer. See FLYER.

Moby Thesaurus

acciaccatura, adjunct, adorn, adornment, advertise, affect, air, amplify, appoggiatura, arabesque, arrangement, arrive, asiaticism, augment, batten, be energetic, be somebody, be something, be vigorous, bear fruit, beauties, betoken, blazon, blazon forth, bloom, blossom, blow, bluster, boast, bonus, boom, brag, brandish, brandishing, bravura, breathe, brew, brilliancy, bring forth, bring forward, bring into view, bring out, bring to maturity, bring to notice, bud, burgeon, burst forth, burst with energy, burst with health, cadence, cadenza, color, color patterns, coloratura, colors, colors of rhetoric, come to fruition, convolute, curlicue, cut a dash, cut a figure, dangle, daring, dash, decor, decorate, decoration, demonstrate, demonstration, develop, device, disclose, display, division, divulge, do well, dramatics, dramatize, draw the longbow, eclat, elaborate, elaboration, elegant variation, embellish, embellishment, emblazon, emblazonment, emblazonry, embody, embroider, embroidery, enact, enjoy good health, enrich, etalage, euphuism, evidence, evince, exhibit, exhibition, exhibitionism, expand, expose to view, express, extempore, extra, extra added attraction, extra dash, false front, fanfare, fanfaronade, fare well, fatten, feel fine, feel good, festoon, figurative language, figurativeness, figure, figure of speech, filigree, filling, fillip, fine writing, fioritura, flair, flap, flash, flaunt, flaunting, flight, float, floridity, floridness, flourishing, flower, flower arrangement, floweriness, flowers of speech, flowery style, flutter, fly, frill, fructify, furbelow, furniture arrangement, garnish, garnishment, garniture, gasconade, gather, gemmate, germinate, gesturing, get ahead, gild, give sign, give token, gleam, glitter, glow, go, go great guns, grace, grace note, grow, grow fat, grow rank, grow up, have energy, highlight, histrionics, hold up, hot lick, hypertrophy, illuminate, illumination, image, imagery, impromptu, improvisation, in full swing, incarnate, incidental, incidental note, increase, indicate, interpolation, involve, keep fit, lagniappe, leaf, leaf out, leave, lick, live, load with ornament, long mordent, lushness, luxuriance, luxuriate, make a figure, make a splash, make clear, make good, make out, make plain, manifest, manifestation, manner of speaking, materialize, maturate, mature, mean, mellow, mordent, multiply, mushroom, never feel better, nonliterality, nonliteralness, ornament, ornamentation, outgrow, overcharge, overdevelop, overflow with energy, overgrow, overlay, overload, overrun, overtop, padding, pageant, pageantry, parade, passage, perform, pralltriller, premium, present, procreate, produce, prosper, puff, pullulate, purple passage, purple patches, put forth, put forth leaves, put forward, put out buds, reach its season, reach maturity, represent, reproduce, reveal, riff, riot, ripe, ripen, roll out, root, roulade, run, score, set forth, shake, shaking, sham, shine, shoot, shoot up, show, show forth, showiness, showing-off, single mordent, something extra, speak for Buncombe, spectacle, splash, splurge, sport, spotlight, spring up, sprout, sprout up, staginess, stay in shape, stay young, strike root, stuffing, succeed, superaddition, swagger, swing, swish, take root, theatrics, thrive, token, tower, trick out, trim, trimming, trope, trot out, trumpet, trumpet forth, turn, turn of expression, twirl, twist, undulate, undulation, unfold, upshoot, upspear, upspring, upsprout, vamp, vapor, varnish, vaunt, vegetate, wag, wave, wave motion, waving, wax, way of speaking, wear well, wield, wigwag, window dressing, wrinkle