Princeton's WordNet(2.75 / 8 votes)Rate this definition:

1. flourish(noun)

   a showy gesture

   "she entered with a great flourish"

2. flourish(noun)

   an ornamental embellishment in writing

3. flourish(noun)

   a display of ornamental speech or language

4. flourish, brandish(noun)

   the act of waving

5. flourish, fanfare, tucket(verb)

   (music) a short lively tune played on brass instruments

   "he entered to a flourish of trumpets"; "her arrival was greeted with a rousing fanfare"

6. boom, thrive, flourish, expand(verb)

   grow vigorously

   "The deer population in this town is thriving"; "business is booming"

7. thrive, prosper, fly high, flourish(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"

8. brandish, flourish, wave(verb)

   move or swing back and forth

   "She waved her gun"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. flourish(Noun)

   A dramatic gesture such as the waving of a flag.

   With many flourishes of the captured banner, they marched down the avenue.

2. flourish(Noun)

   An ornamentation.

   His signature ended with a flourish.

3. flourish(Noun)

   A ceremonious passage such as a fanfare.

   The trumpets blew a flourish as they entered the church.

4. flourish(Noun)

   A decorative embellishment on a building.

5. flourish(Verb)

   To thrive or grow well.

   The barley flourished in the warm weather.

6. flourish(Verb)

   To prosper or fare well.

7. flourish(Verb)

   To be in a period of greatest influence.

   His writing flourished before the war.

8. flourish(Verb)

   To make bold, sweeping movements with.

   They flourished the banner as they stormed the palace.

Origin: From florisshen, flurisshen, and from floriss-, stem of some conjugated forms of florir, ( fleurir);, from florire, from floreo (with influence from flōrēscō), from flos. See flower + -ish.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Flourish(verb)

   to grow luxuriantly; to increase and enlarge, as a healthy growing plant; a thrive

2. Flourish(verb)

   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

3. Flourish(verb)

   to use florid language; to indulge in rhetorical figures and lofty expressions; to be flowery

4. Flourish(verb)

   to make bold and sweeping, fanciful, or wanton movements, by way of ornament, parade, bravado, etc.; to play with fantastic and irregular motion

5. Flourish(verb)

   to make ornamental strokes with the pen; to write graceful, decorative figures

6. Flourish(verb)

   to execute an irregular or fanciful strain of music, by way of ornament or prelude

7. Flourish(verb)

   to boast; to vaunt; to brag

8. Flourish(verb)

   to adorn with flowers orbeautiful figures, either natural or artificial; to ornament with anything showy; to embellish

9. Flourish(verb)

   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

10. Flourish(verb)

    to move in bold or irregular figures; to swing about in circles or vibrations by way of show or triumph; to brandish

11. Flourish(verb)

    to develop; to make thrive; to expand

12. Flourish(noun)

    a flourishing condition; prosperity; vigor

13. Flourish(noun)

    decoration; ornament; beauty

14. Flourish(noun)

    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

15. Flourish(noun)

    a fanciful stroke of the pen or graver; a merely decorative figure

16. Flourish(noun)

    a fantastic or decorative musical passage; a strain of triumph or bravado, not forming part of a regular musical composition; a cal; a fanfare

17. Flourish(noun)

    the waving of a weapon or other thing; a brandishing; as, the flourish of a sword

Origin: [OE. florisshen, flurisshen, OF. flurir, F. fleurir, fr. L. florere to bloom, fr. flos, floris, flower. See Flower, and -ish.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Flourish

   flur′ish, v.i. to thrive luxuriantly: to be prosperous: to use copious and flowery language: to move in fantastic figures: to display ostentatiously: (mus.) to play ostentatious passages, or ostentatiously: to play a trumpet-call: to make ornamental strokes with the pen: to boast or brag.—v.t. to adorn with flourishes or ornaments: to swing about by way of show or triumph: (Shak.) to gloss over.—n. decoration: showy splendour: a figure made by a bold stroke of the pen: the waving of a weapon or other thing: a parade of words: a musical prelude: a trumpet-call.—adjs. Flour′ished, decorated with flourishes; Flour′ishing, thriving: prosperous: making a show.—adv. Flour′ishingly.—adj. Flour′ishy, abounding in flourishes.—Flourish of trumpets, a trumpet-call sounded on the approach of great persons; any ostentatious introduction. [O. Fr. florir, L. flos, flower.]

British National Corpus

1. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'flourish' in Verbs Frequency: #1087

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of flourish in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of flourish in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Sample Sentences & Example Usage

1. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley:

   Virtue can only flourish among equals.

2. Gavin Gibbons:

   '' But these type of things flourish in the shadows.

3. Ziyavudin Magomedov:

   Then everything will flourish in glorious colors, the time is ripe for reforms.

4. Henry Commager:

   If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism if our government is to function it must have dissent.

5. Henry Commager:

   If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our government is to function it must have dissent.

Images & Illustrations of flourish