Problem

[shaukat mahmood]

Please explain the expression "sabres rattling" in simple English by quoting some example as well.

THANKS!

Shaukat.

[mykwyner]

"Sabre rattling" is a threat of military force by one nation against another.

It usually implies that the nation doing the threatening is not as ready to attack as it seems.

"After months of saber rattling by the blue army, the green army agreed to leave the disputed territory."

[Avalon]

sabres are swords, and the noise that they´d make (the metal of one blade against the other )is being described as having a rattling sound ...I knew of rattlesnake, a rattle, and these sounds differ a bit from what I´d expect to hear when the fight began,though...If someone had asked me to translate it on the spot from my native language I would have thought for a long time....clinking sounds a bit too gentle, like glasses in a toast...mmm...I´d paraphrase and say the sound of the sabres....hehehe...exit to the left..phew!;)

[Avalon]

"Sabre rattling" is a threat of military force by one nation against another.
It usually implies that the nation doing the threatening is not as ready to attack as it seems.
"After months of saber rattling by the blue army, the green army agreed to leave the disputed territory."

wow..I had no idea that it was that...well, the words were without a context, which being a non-native speaker, I imagined a duel but ...anyway, we seemed to have been writing the posts at the same time, for when I posted it thinking it would have been the first, I came second! rsrs