Meaning

• A dramatic gesture such as the waving of a flag.

  "With many flourishes of the captured banner, they marched down the avenue."

• An ornamentation.

  "His signature ended with a flourish."

• A ceremonious passage such as a fanfare.

  "The trumpets blew a flourish as they entered the church."

• A decorative embellishment on a building.

Meaning

• To thrive or grow well.

  "The barley flourished in the warm weather."

• To prosper or fare well.

  "The cooperation flourished as the customers rushed in the business."

• To be in a period of greatest influence.

  "His writing flourished before the war."

• To develop; to make thrive; to expand.

• To make bold, sweeping movements with.

  "They flourished the banner as they stormed the palace."

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

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

• 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.

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

• To boast; to vaunt; to brag.