flourish

Meanings

1. To thrive or grow well.
2. To prosper or fare well.
3. To be in a period of greatest influence.
4. To develop; to make thrive; to expand.
5. To make bold, sweeping movements with.
6. To make bold and sweeping, fanciful, or wanton movements, by way of ornament, parade, bravado, etc.; to play with fantastic and irregular motion.
7. To use florid language; to indulge in rhetorical figures and lofty expressions.
8. To make ornamental strokes with the pen; to write graceful, decorative figures.
9. To adorn with beautiful figures or rhetoric; to ornament with anything showy; to embellish.
10. To execute an irregular or fanciful strain of music, by way of ornament or prelude.
11. To boast; to vaunt; to brag.
12. To brandish (a weapon).

1. A dramatic gesture such as the waving of a flag.
2. An ornamentation.
3. A ceremonious passage such as a fanfare.
4. A decorative embellishment on a building.

Etymology

From Middle English floryschen, from Old French florir (via the arrhizotonic stem floriss-), from Late Latin flōrīre, from Latin flōrēre, from Latin flōrem (“flower”, noun). Corresponds to flower + -ish.

Translations