Definition of "brave"

For miſerie doth braueſt mindes abate, / And make them ſeeke for that they wont to ſcorne, / Of fortune and of hope at once forlorne.

1578–1579, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Prosopopoia. Or Mother Hubberds Tale. [...] Dedicated to the Right Honorable the Ladie Compton and Mountegle”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. Whereof the Next Page Maketh Mention‎, London: Imprinted for VVilliam Ponsonbie, dwelling in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Bishops head, published 1591

Do not fret, dear. You must be brave and strong, and help me through the horrible task. If you only knew what an effort it is to me to tell of this fearful thing at all, you would understand how much I need your help.

1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 21, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library

[…] he has been so brave, giving it all a dignity.

1987, Michael Grumley, The Last Diary

Is it not paſſing braue to be a King,And ride in triumph through Perſepolis?

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act II, scene v

Iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth.

1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Plantations”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret

It being a brave day, I walked to Whitehall.

February 18, 1666, Samuel Pepys,, diary entry

Their plumed helmes are wrought with beaten golde,Their ſwords enameld, and about their neckesHangs maſſie chaines of golde downe to the waſte,In euery part exceding braue and rich.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)

Wear my dagger with the braver grace.

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iv]

For I have gold, and therefore will be brave. / In silks I'll rattle it of every color.

1611, John Cooke, Greene's Tu Quoque

Frog and lizard in holiday coats / And turtle brave in his golden spots.

1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, May-Day

So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company

Hot Braves, like thee, may fight; but know not well / To manage this, the laſt great Stake of Hell.

1674 (date written), John Dryden, The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man: An Opera. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1677, Act I, page 6

Demetrius, thou dost overween in all; / And so in this, to bear me down with braves.

c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]

For Cassius is aweary of the world;Hated by one he loves; braved by his brother;Checked like a bondman; all his faults observed,Set in a notebook, learned, and conned by rote,To cast into my teeth.

1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii]

The ills of Love, not those of Fate, I fear,These I can brave, but those I cannot bear […]

1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour […]‎, London: Printed by J.M. for H. Herringman, published 1667, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

[…] but they [Parliament] never will be braved into it.

1773, A Farmer, Rivington's New-York Gazetteer, Number 53, December 2

Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; bravenot me. I will neither be faced nor braved.addressed to a tailor; first use in sense of "adorn", second and third uses in sense of "confront"

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii]