brave

Less common meanings

4. 4
   splendidadjective

   Making a fine or splendid show; striking and impressive in appearance.

   The procession made a brave display of banners, drums, and gold.

   The garden put on its bravest show of color in midsummer.

   UsageOften in a brave show or a brave sight. It describes how something looks, not courage.

   Similarsplendid, fine, grand, magnificent, showy

   Oppositedrab, dull

   Note

   Splendor on display: plumed helmets, enameled swords, a dagger worn "with the braver grace." Marlowe and Shakespeare use it of finery and bearing. Emerson still gives a turtle a brave show of golden spots in 1867, so the sense is not only Elizabethan. Its causative partner is the verb meaning "to adorn". Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • Marlowe uses brave for splendid appearance, describing plumed helmets and enameled swords in Tamburlaine the Great, Part One; a soldier speaks the lines. luminarium.org
   • Shakespeare uses the quoted phrase for bearing in The Merchant of Venice, Act III, scene iv; Portia speaks it to Nerissa. gutenberg.org
   • Emerson describes a turtle as brave in its golden spots in May-Day, establishing use beyond the Elizabethan period. en.wikisource.org
   • May-Day appeared in Emerson's May-Day and Other Pieces, first published in 1867. en.wikisource.org
   • Brave also has an obsolete transitive sense meaning to adorn or make showy. en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   Native American warriornounoffensivedatedcountable

   A warrior belonging to a Native American people.

   Several braves gathered around the fire before the hunt began.

   A seasoned brave led the war party across the swollen river.

   UsageBest kept to historical writing or quotations; in present-day description, say warrior instead.

   Similarwarrior

6. 6
   adjectiveobsolete

   Excellent; having some kind of superiority or fine quality above the ordinary.

   It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall.

   18 February 1666, Samuel Pepys, diary entry

   Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth.

   1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Plantations”

   Note

   General praise, with no courage in it at all. Marlowe's Tamburlaine finds it "passing brave to be a King", Bacon calls iron "a brave commodity", and Pepys walks to Whitehall on "a brave day" in 1666. The sense is obsolete, so in older texts read it as approval of quality. A modern reader who hears bravery in Pepys's weather has misread him. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

   • Brave has an obsolete sense expressing excellence rather than courage. en.wiktionary.org
   • Christopher Marlowe wrote Tamburlaine the Great. gutenberg.org
   • The character Tamburlaine describes being a king as passing brave. gutenberg.org
   • Francis Bacon calls iron a brave commodity. en.wikisource.org
   • Pepys records walking to Whitehall on a brave day in 1666. en.wikisource.org
   • The sense illustrated by these quotations is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   nounobsolete

   A man who is daring beyond all discretion; a swaggering bully.

   Hot Braves, like thee, may fight; but know not well / To manage this, the laſt great Stake of Hell.

   1674, John Dryden, The State of Innocence

   Note

   Courage tipped over into swagger: the man who dares too much and enjoys it. Dryden's "Hot Braves, like thee, may fight" (1677) catches the tone of men fit for brawling but not for judgment. The sense is obsolete. It sits close to the noun for a challenge, and both treat bravery as noise rather than virtue. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • The quotation is by John Dryden, in The State of Innocence and Fall of Man; Lucifer speaks it to Moloch. jacklynch.net
   • The work containing the quotation was first published in 1677. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quotation contrasts fighting ability with judgment. jacklynch.net
   • The noun has an obsolete sense meaning a recklessly daring man or bully, alongside another meaning a challenge or defiance. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   nounobsolete

   A challenge or act of defiance; a show of bravado aimed at a rival.

   Demetrius, thou dost overween in all; / And so in this, to bear me down with braves.

   c. 1588, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”

   Note

   Bravado as something you can hurl at someone. In Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, a character complains of being borne down "with braves", meaning taunts piled up in the plural. The sense is obsolete, but it explains the older force of the verb "to defy": to brave a person was to throw such challenges at them. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • In Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, Chiron complains that Demetrius tries to bear him down 'with braves'. shakespeare.mit.edu
   • The plural 'braves' denotes challenges or defiant taunts; this noun sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
   • The verb 'brave' could mean to defy or provoke someone. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   verbobsoletetransitive

   To adorn; to make fine, splendid, or showy in appearance.

   Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; brave not me. I will neither be faced nor braved.

   c. 1590, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”

   Note

   An obsolete verb of dressing up, and the action behind the showy adjective. In The Taming of the Shrew, "Thou hast braved many men; brave not me" stands beside "faced". The line lets the adorning sense rub against the defiant verb. Read Elizabethan uses with both meanings in mind before settling on one. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • Brave has an obsolete verb sense meaning to adorn or dress up, corresponding to the showy adjective sense. en.wiktionary.org
   • The quoted words occur beside forms of face in The Taming of the Shrew; Grumio speaks them to the Tailor in Act 4, scene 3. folger.edu
   • The passage plays on adorning someone and confronting or defying someone. en.wiktionary.org