brave

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: brāv, IPA^(key): /bɹeɪv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪv

Etymology 1

From Middle French brave, borrowed from Italian bravo, itself of uncertain origin (see there). Doublet of bravo.

Adjective

brave (comparative braver or more brave, superlative bravest or most brave)

1. Strong in the face of fear; courageous.

   Synonyms: bold, daring, doughty, orped, resilient, stalwart

   Antonyms: cowardly, fearful, mean, weak

   • 1578–1579, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale. [...] Dedicated to the Right Honorable the Ladie Compton and Mountegle”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. Whereof the Next Page Maketh Mention‎, London: Imprinted for VVilliam Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Bishops head, published 1591, →OCLC:

     For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 21, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:

     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 I need your help.

   • 1987, Michael Grumley, The Last Diary:

     […] he has been so brave, giving it all a dignity.

2. (obsolete) Having any sort of superiority or excellence.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene v:

     Is it not paſſing braue to be a King,
     And ride in triumph through Perſepolis?

   • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Plantations”, in The Essayes , 3rd edition, London: Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

     Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth.

   • February 18, 1666, Samuel Pepys,, diary entry

     It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall.

3. Making a fine show or display.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:

     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.

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Wear my dagger with the braver grace.

   • 1611, John Cooke, Greene's Tu Quoque:

     For I have gold, and therefore will be brave. / In silks I'll rattle it of every color.

   • 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, May-Day:

     Frog and lizard in holiday coats / And turtle brave in his golden spots.

   • 1908, W B M Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

4. (UK, euphemistic) Foolish or unwise.

   Synonym: courageous

Synonyms

• (courageous): See also Thesaurus:brave

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

brave (plural braves)

1. (dated) A Native American warrior.
2. (obsolete) A man daring beyond discretion; a bully.
   • 1674 (date written), John Dryden, The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man: An Opera. , London: T N for Henry Herringman, , published 1677, →OCLC, Act I, page 6:

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

3. (obsolete) A challenge; a defiance; bravado.
   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

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

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle French braver, from brave.

Verb

brave (third-person singular simple present braves, present participle braving, simple past and past participle braved)

1. (transitive) To encounter with courage and fortitude, to defy, to provoke.
   • 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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.

   • 1665 (first performance), John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, or, The Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards. , London: J M for H Herringman , published 1667, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     The ills of Love, not those of Fate, I fear,
     These I can brave, but those I cannot bear […]

   • 1773, A Farmer, Rivington's New-York Gazetteer, Number 53, December 2

     but they never will be braved into it.

   After braving tricks on the high-dive, he braved a jump off the first diving platform.

2. (transitive, obsolete) To adorn; to make fine or showy.
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

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

     addressed to a tailor; first use in sense of "adorn", second and third uses in sense of "confront"

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Baver

Esperanto

Etymology 1

brava +‎ -e

Adverb

brave

1. bravely, valiantly

Etymology 2

From Italian bravo.

Interjection

brave

1. bravo

French

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Italian bravo. Compare Spanish, Portuguese bravo. Doublet of bravo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʁav/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

brave (plural braves)

1. brave
2. honest

Synonyms

• courageux
• bon
• honnête
• preux

Noun

brave m (plural braves)

1. hero

Related terms

Further reading

• “brave”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• baver

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːvə

Adjective

brave

1. inflection of brav:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

brave f pl

1. feminine plural of bravo

Anagrams

• breva

Norman

Etymology

From Late Latin *bravus.

Adjective

brave m or f

1. brave

Derived terms

• bravement (“bravely”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

brave

1. definite singular/plural of brav

Pali

Alternative forms

Verb

brave

1. first-person singular present/imperative middle of brūti (“to say”)