flourish. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

flourish

SYLLABICATION:	flour·ish
PRONUNCIATION:	flûrsh, flr-
VERB:	Inflected forms: flour·ished, flour·ish·ing, flour·ish·es
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive: The crops flourished in the rich soil. 2. To do or fare well; prosper: “No village on the railroad failed to flourish” (John Kenneth Galbraith). 3. To be in a period of highest productivity, excellence, or influence: a poet who flourished in the tenth century. 4. To make bold, sweeping movements: The banner flourished in the wind.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	To wield, wave, or exhibit dramatically.
NOUN:	1. A dramatic or stylish movement, as of waving or brandishing: “A few … musicians embellish their performance with a flourish of the fingers” (Frederick D. Bennett). 2. An embellishment or ornamentation: a signature with a distinctive flourish. 3. An ostentatious act or gesture: a flourish of generosity. 4. Music A showy or ceremonious passage, such as a fanfare.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English florishen, from Old French florir, floriss-, from Vulgar Latin ^*flrre, from Latin flrre, to bloom, from fls, flr-, flower. See bhel-³ in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	flourish·er —NOUN
SYNONYMS:	flourish, brandish, wave These verbs mean to swing back and forth boldly and dramatically: flourished her newly signed contract; brandish a sword; waving a baton.


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.