/bɹeɪv/
OriginFrom Middle French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself of uncertain origin (see there). Doublet of bravo.
- Strong in the face of fear; courageous.
“For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.”
“Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much ”
“[…]he has been so brave, giving it all a dignity.”
- obsoleteHaving any sort of superiority or excellence.
“Is it not paſſing braue to be a King,
And ride in triumph through Perſepolis?”
“Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth.”
“It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall.”
- Making a fine show or display.
“Their plumed helmes are wrought with beaten golde,
Their ſwords enameld, and about their neckes
Hangs maſſie chaines of golde downe to the waſte,
In euery part exceding braue and rich.”
“Wear my dagger with the braver grace.”
“For I have gold, and therefore will be brave. / In silks I'll rattle it of every color.”
- UK, euphemisticFoolish or unwise.
- datedA Native American warrior.
- obsoleteA man daring beyond discretion; a bully.
“Hot Braves, like thee, may fight; but know not well / To manage this, the laſt great Stake of Hell.”
“In no other land, in modern times, have towns so absolutely died and disappeared, as in the old mining regions of California. […] For, observe, it was an assemblage of two hundred thousand young men—n”
- obsoleteA challenge; a defiance; bravado.
“Demetrius, thou dost overween in all; / And so in this, to bear me down with braves.”
- transitiveTo encounter with courage and fortitude, to defy, to provoke.
“For Cassius is aweary of the world;
Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;
Checked like a bondman; all his faults observed,
Set in a notebook, learned, and conned by rote,
To cast into my teeth”
“The ills of Love, not those of Fate, I fear,
These I can brave, but those I cannot bear […]”
“[…] but they [Parliament] never will be braved into it.”
- obsolete, transitiveTo adorn; to make fine or showy.
“Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; brave
not me. I will neither be faced nor braved.”
- countable, uncountableA surname.
- countable, uncountableA census-designated place in Greene County, Pennsylvania, United States.
Formsbraver(comparative) · more brave(comparative) · bravest(superlative) · most brave(superlative) · braves(plural) · braves(present, singular, third-person) · braving(participle, present) · braved(participle, past) · braved(past) · Braves(plural)