Verb

(es)

To thrive or grow well.

*

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.}}

To prosper or fare well.

* Nelson

Bad men as frequently prosper and flourish , and that by the means of their wickedness.

* '>citation

To be in a period of greatest influence.

To develop; to make thrive; to expand.

* Francis Bacon

Bottoms of thread which with a good needle, perhaps may be flourished into large works.

To make bold, sweeping movements with.

To make bold and sweeping, fanciful, or wanton movements, by way of ornament, parade, bravado, etc.; to play with fantastic and irregular motion.

* Alexander Pope

Impetuous spread the stream, and smoking flourished o'er his head.

To use florid language; to indulge in rhetorical figures and lofty expressions.

* J. Watts

They dilate and flourish long on little incidents.

To make ornamental strokes with the pen; to write graceful, decorative figures.

To adorn with beautiful figures or rhetoric; to ornament with anything showy; to embellish.

(Fenton)

(Shakespeare)

To execute an irregular or fanciful strain of music, by way of ornament or prelude.

* Shakespeare

Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish thus?

(obsolete) To boast; to vaunt; to brag.

(Alexander Pope)

Verb

(improv)

(lb) To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).

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:

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}

(lb) To become better.

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*

*:“My Continental prominence is improving ,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

(lb) To disprove or make void; to refute.

*(William Tyndale) (1494-1536)

*:Neither can any of them make so strong a reason which another cannot improve .

(lb) To disapprove of; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure.

:

:(Chapman)

*(William Tyndale) (1494-1536)

*:When he rehearsed his preachings and his doing unto the high apostles, they could improve nothing.

(lb) To use or employ to good purpose; to turn to profitable account.

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*(Isaac Barrow) (1630-1677)

*:We shall especially honour God by improving diligently the talents which God hath committed to us.

*(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)

*:a hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved

*(William Blackstone) (1723-1780)

*:The court seldom fails to improve the opportunity.

*(Isaac Watts) (1674-1748)

*:How doth the little busy bee / Improve each shining hour.

*(George Washington) (1732-1799)

*:True policy, as well as good faith, in my opinion, binds us to improve the occasion.