flourish definition | Dictionary.com

flour⋅ish

[flur-ish, fluhr-]

–verb (used without object)

1.	to be in a vigorous state; thrive: a period in which art flourished.

2.	to be in its or in one's prime; be at the height of fame, excellence, influence, etc.

3.	to be successful; prosper.

4.	to grow luxuriantly, or thrive in growth, as a plant.

5.	to make dramatic, sweeping gestures: Flourish more when you act out the king's great death scene.

6.	to add embellishments and ornamental lines to writing, letters, etc.

7.	to sound a trumpet call or fanfare.

–verb (used with object)

8.	to brandish dramatically; gesticulate with: a conductor flourishing his baton for the crescendo.

9.	to decorate or embellish (writing, a page of script, etc.) with sweeping or fanciful curves or lines.

–noun

10.	an act or instance of brandishing.

11.	an ostentatious display.

12.	a decoration or embellishment, esp. in writing: He added a few flourishes to his signature.

13.	Rhetoric. a parade of fine language; an expression used merely for effect.

14.	a trumpet call or fanfare.

15.	a condition or period of thriving: in full flourish.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME florisshen < MF floriss-, long s. of florir ≪ L flōrēre to bloom, deriv. of flōs flower

Related forms:

flour⋅ish⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. grow, increase. See succeed. 9. ornament. 12. ornament, adornment.

Antonyms:
1. fade, decline.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To flourish

flour·ish (flûr'ĭsh, flŭr'-)

v. flour·ished, flour·ish·ing, flour·ish·es

v. intr.

To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive: The crops flourished in the rich soil.
To do or fare well; prosper: "No village on the railroad failed to flourish" (John Kenneth Galbraith).
To be in a period of highest productivity, excellence, or influence: a poet who flourished in the tenth century.
To make bold, sweeping movements: The banner flourished in the wind.

v. tr.
To wield, wave, or exhibit dramatically.
n.

A dramatic or stylish movement, as of waving or brandishing: "A few ... musicians embellish their performance with a flourish of the fingers" (Frederick D. Bennett).
An embellishment or ornamentation: a signature with a distinctive flourish.
An ostentatious act or gesture: a flourish of generosity.
Music A showy or ceremonious passage, such as a fanfare.

[Middle English florishen, from Old French florir, floriss-, from Vulgar Latin *flōrīre, from Latin flōrēre, to bloom, from flōs, flōr-, flower; see bhel-³ in Indo-European roots.]
flour'ish·er n.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to swing back and forth boldly and dramatically: flourished her newly signed contract; brandish a sword; waving a baton.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.

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.

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.

Language Translation for : flourish

Spanish: florecer, crecer bien,

German: gedeihen,

Japanese: 繁茂する

More Translations »

flourish

c.1300, "to blossom, grow," from O.Fr. floriss-, stem of florir, from L. florere "to bloom, blossom, flower," from flos "a flower" (see flora). Metaphoric sense of "thrive" is c.1340. Meaning "to brandish (a weapon)" first attested 1382. The noun meaning "literary or rhetorical embellishment" is from 1603.

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