Other forms: brandishing, brandished, brandishes
To brandish is to wave something about, especially a weapon. Brandish a knife, brandishing a stick, brandish it above his head.
The showing is the point rather than the striking — brandishing a weapon is a threat, and it is a criminal offence in itself in many places. The word comes from the Old French for a sword, which comes from a Germanic word meaning a firebrand.
1verbbrandishTo wave something about, especially a weapon.
“The robber brandished a knife and demanded the money from the till.”
brandish is a waving.
Old French brandir means to flourish a sword, from brand, a sword or firebrand, from a Germanic root about burning.
Frankish
*brandijan
Old French
brandiss-
Middle English
braundischen
English, today
brandish
Built from
From Middle English braundischen, from Old French brandiss-, stem of brandir (“to flourish a sword”), from Frankish brandijan, from Frankish brand (“firebrand; sword”), from Proto-Germanic brandaz (“fire; flame; sword”), whence Old English brand (“firebrand; torch”); equivalent to brand + -ish. More at brand.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA