'Flourish' definitions:

Definition of 'flourish'

From: WordNet
noun
A showy gesture; "she entered with a great flourish"
noun
An ornamental embellishment in writing
noun
A display of ornamental speech or language
noun
The act of waving [syn: flourish, brandish]
noun
(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]
verb
Grow vigorously; "The deer population in this town is thriving"; "business is booming" [syn: boom, thrive, flourish, expand]
verb
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]
verb
Move or swing back and forth; "She waved her gun" [syn: brandish, flourish, wave]

Definition of 'Flourish'

From: GCIDE
  • Flourish \Flour"ish\, n.; pl. Flourishes.
  • 1. A flourishing condition; prosperity; vigor. [Archaic] [1913 Webster]
  • The Roman monarchy, in her highest flourish, never had the like. --Howell. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Decoration; ornament; beauty. [1913 Webster]
  • The flourish of his sober youth Was the pride of naked truth. --Crashaw. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • He lards with flourishes his long harangue. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. A fanciful stroke of the pen or graver; a merely decorative figure. [1913 Webster]
  • The neat characters and flourishes of a Bible curiously printed. --Boyle. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • A flourish, trumpets! strike alarum, drums! --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. The waving of a weapon or other thing; a brandishing; as, the flourish of a sword. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Flourish'

From: GCIDE
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • A tree thrives and flourishes in a kindly . . . soil. --Bp. Horne. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • When all the workers of iniquity do flourish. --Ps. xcii 7 [1913 Webster]
  • Bad men as frequently prosper and flourish, and that by the means of their wickedness. --Nelson. [1913 Webster]
  • We say Of those that held their heads above the crowd, They flourished then or then. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To use florid language; to indulge in rhetorical figures and lofty expressions; to be flowery. [1913 Webster]
  • They dilate . . . and flourish long on little incidents. --J. Watts. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To make bold and sweeping, fanciful, or wanton movements, by way of ornament, parade, bravado, etc.; to play with fantastic and irregular motion. [1913 Webster]
  • Impetuous spread The stream, and smoking flourished o'er his head. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To make ornamental strokes with the pen; to write graceful, decorative figures. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To execute an irregular or fanciful strain of music, by way of ornament or prelude. [1913 Webster]
  • Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish thus? --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. To boast; to vaunt; to brag. --Pope. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Flourish'

From: GCIDE
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 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.] [1913 Webster]
  • Sith that the justice of your title to him Doth flourish the deceit. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To move in bold or irregular figures; to swing about in circles or vibrations by way of show or triumph; to brandish. [1913 Webster]
  • And flourishes his blade in spite of me. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To develop; to make thrive; to expand. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
  • Bottoms of thread . . . which with a good needle, perhaps may be flourished into large works. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'flourish'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Flourish'