Flourish, subst. 1) varnish, gloss, ostentatious embellishment: “time doth transfix the f. set on youth,” Sonn. 60, 9. “my beauty . . . needs not the painted f. of your praise,” LLL II, 14. “lend me the f. of all gentle tongues,” IV, 3, 238. “poor painted queen, vain f. of my fortune,” R3 I, 3, 241. IV, 4, 82 (a mere varnish representing what I was indeed). “since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward --es,” Hml. II, 2, 91. “shall I redeliver you even so? To this effect, sir; after what f. your nature will,” V, 2, 187.
2) a sounding of trumpets in triumph: “then music is even as the f. when true subjects bow to a new-crowned monarch,” Merch. III, 2, 49. “a f., trumpets!” R3 IV, 4, 148.
Shakespeare Lexicon. Alexander Schmidt. Berlin. Georg Reimer. 1902.
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