arborer

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian arborare.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /aʁ.bɔ.ʁe/
  • (file)

Verb

arborer

  1. to sport (clothes, a badge etc.)
    • 1925, Marcel Proust, chapter 4, in Albertine disparue [The Fugitive] (À la recherche du temps perdu):
      [] comme enrobé dans les atours de Mme Molé (ou d’une autre), bannière d’une cause gynophile qui n’était pas la sienne mais qu’il aimait bien que sans droit, à arborer ainsi, soit qu’il la trouvât protectrice ou esthétique []
      [] when he appeared to be robed in the finery of Mme. Molé or some other woman, the banner of a gynaecophil cause which was not his own but which he loved, albeit without having the right to flaunt it thus, whether because he found it useful as a protection or aesthetically charming []
      translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff
  2. to wear (a facial expression e.g. a smile, a frown)
    • 2012, Tessa Gratton, chapter 29, in Blood Lovers:
      Je claquai la portière, grimpai les marches du perron et entrai dans la maison sans parvenir à arborer mon sourire habituel.
      I slammed the door, climbed the front steps, and entered the house without managing to wear my usual smile.
  3. to fly, display (a flag)
    • 1864, Rudolf Charles, Preface to Testament by Jean Meslier, page 14
      ...un prétexte pour nous accuser de n’être qu’un club de fanatiques, qui ne craignaient pas d’arborer ouvertement l’étendard de l’impartialité, de la liberté individuelle, et de la coopération mutuelle, tout en mentant à leur devise, et pour ne prêcher sous main que l’athéisme...
      ...a pretext to accuse us of being only a club of fanatics, who were not afraid to openly fly the flag of impartiality, individual freedom, and mutual cooperation, while contradicting their motto by preaching only atheism...

Conjugation

Further reading

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