Brandishing (nonfiction)

US soldiers training with 9 mm pistols.

Brandishing is displaying a weapon in order to intimidate another person.

Etymology

brand (n.)

Old English brand, brond "fire, flame; firebrand, piece of burning wood, torch," and (poetic) "sword," from Proto-Germanic *brandaz (source also of Old Norse brandr, Old High German brant, Old Frisian brond "firebrand, blade of a sword," German brand "fire"), from root *bran-/*bren- (see burn (v.)).

• Meaning "identifying mark made by a hot iron" (1550s)
• Broadened by 1827 to "a particular make of goods."
• Brand name is from 1922.

brand (v.)

• c. 1400, "to brand, cauterize; stigmatize," originally of criminal marks or cauterized wounds, from brand (n.).
• As a means of marking property, 1580s;
• Figuratively from c. 1600, often in a bad sense, with the criminal marking in mind. Related: Branded; branding.

Source: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=brand

Fiction cross-reference

• 

  The Brandisher circa 1703, prominently displaying a one-handed axe-and-pick weapon.

• 

  Green Lanterns brandishing their power rings.

• The Brandisher

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Crime (nonfiction)
• Weapon (nonfiction)