rattle the sabre

English

Verb

rattle the sabre (third-person singular simple present rattles the sabre, present participle rattling the sabre, simple past and past participle rattled the sabre)

1. Alternative form of sabre-rattle
   • 1974, Yaacov Ro'i, From Encroachment to Involvement, page 182:

     Moreover, "in an age when such destructive forms of weapons exist as atomic and hydrogen weapons, it is impossible to threaten and rattle the sabre, ... to act as people once did in the period of colonial conquests."

   • 2003, J. S. Bromley, Corsairs and Navies, 1600-1760, page 495:

     The nineteenth century waas par excellence one of naval scares, not necessarily boosted by diplomatic crisis as in the period of intermittent war, when it had been Britain's turn to rattle the sabre, impressment serving as a successful diplomatic weapon in 1770 (the Falklands), 1787 (Holland) and 1790 (Nootka Sound).

   • 2014, Gordon Martel, The Month that Changed the World: July 1914 and WWI:

     As he told the kaiser's son, the crown prince, 'In any war which is unleashed without compelling reason, not only the Hohenzollern crown but the future of Germany is at stake. ... to rattle the sabre at any diplomatic entanglement without having honor, security, or the future of Germany endangered is not only bold beyond reason, but criminal.'

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see rattle,‎ sabre.

Anagrams

• rattle the saber