brave

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

• enPR: brāv, IPA^(key): /bɹeɪv/

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• Rhymes: -eɪv

brave (comparative braver, superlative bravest)

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 84758486:

     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 688657546:

     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 […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; 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 863521290:

     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 […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, OCLC 932920499; 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene iv]:

     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[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 731476803:

     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

• (courageous): See also Thesaurus:brave

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[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1677, OCLC 228727029, 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, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:

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

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[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     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, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […]‎, London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     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 [Parliament] 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, William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     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"

• Baver

brava +‎ -e

brave

1. bravely, valiantly

From Italian bravo.

brave

1. bravo

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

• IPA^(key): /bʁav/

• audio

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brave (plural braves)

1. brave
2. honest

• courageux
• bon
• honnête
• preux

brave m (plural braves)

1. hero

• “brave”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• baver

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• Rhymes: -aːvə

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

brave f pl

1. feminine plural of bravo

• breva

From Late Latin *bravus.

brave m or f

1. brave

• bravement (“bravely”)

brave

1. definite singular/plural of brav

brave

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