GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Flourish , 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.]
   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
   To be prosperous; to increase in wealth, honor, comfort, happiness, or whatever is desirable; to thrive; to be prominent and influential; 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
   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
   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
   To make ornamental strokes with the pen; to write graceful, decorative figures.
   1913 Webster
   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
   To boast; to vaunt; to brag.
   Pope.
   
   1913 Webster
         
       

2.       
   Flourish, v. t.
   To adorn with flowers or beautiful figures, either natural or artificial; to ornament with anything showy; to embellish. [Obs.]
   Fenton.
   
   1913 Webster
   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
   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
   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
   
         
       

3.       
   Flourish , n.; pl. Flourishes .
   A flourishing condition; prosperity; vigor. [Archaic]
   1913 Webster
   The Roman monarchy, in her highest flourish, never had the like.
   Howell.
   
   1913 Webster
   Decoration; ornament; beauty.
   1913 Webster
   The flourish of his sober youth
   Was the pride of naked truth.
   Crashaw.
   
   1913 Webster
   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
   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
   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
   The waving of a weapon or other thing; a brandishing; as, the flourish of a sword.
   1913 Webster