olive branch

1. A branch of an olive tree regarded as an emblem of peace.

2. An offer of peace: bore an olive branch to the new round of negotiations.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

olive branch

1. a branch of an olive tree used to symbolize peace

2. any offering of peace or conciliation

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ol′ive branch`

1. a branch of the olive tree as an emblem of peace.

2. any token of peace.

[1275–1325]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

olive branch - something offered to an adversary in the hope of obtaining peace

peace offering

offering, offer - something offered (as a proposal or bid); "noteworthy new offerings for investors included several index funds"

Translations

غُصْن الزَّيْتون

olivengren

Ölzweig

rameau d'olivier

olajág

olífuviîargrein

oljegrein

olivová ratolesť

zeytin dalı

橄榄枝

olive branch

n → ramoscello d'olivo

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

olive

(ˈoliv) noun

1. a type of edible fruit which is used as a garnish etc and which gives oil used for cooking. He put an olive in her cocktail; (also adjective) an olive tree; olive oil.

2. the tree on which it grows. a grove of olives.

3. (also olive-green) the brownish-green or yellowish-green colour of the fruit. They painted the room olive; (also adjective) She wore an olive-green hat.

4. (also ˈolive-wood) the wood of the tree.

olive branch

a sign of a wish for peace. The government held out the olive branch to its opponents.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"Well, my dear, so you took the olive branch?" inquired Countess Lidia Ivanovna, as soon as she came into the room.

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They showed us likewise the bloody robe which that archbishop of Paris wore who exposed his sacred person and braved the wrath of the insurgents of 1848, to mount the barricades and hold aloft the olive branch of peace in the hope of stopping the slaughter.

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It was a triangular billet, on pink paper, and sealed with a dove and an olive branch, and a profusion of light blue sealing wax, and it was written in a very large, though undecided female hand.

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The general had turned up in the bosom of his family two or three days before, but not, as usual, with the olive branch of peace in his hand, not in the garb of penitence--in which he was usually clad on such occasions--but, on the contrary, in an uncommonly bad temper.

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The house inspected, emissaries removed the Inexhaustible, who was shortly afterwards heard screaming among the rainbows; whereupon Bella withdrew herself from the presence and knowledge of gemplemorums, and the screaming ceased, and smiling Peace associated herself with that young olive branch.

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Meantime, I feel in myself a strong repugnance to fix the hour which will uproot my sole olive branch, and transplant it far from me; and, when I speak to Frances on the subject, I am heard with a kind of patient pain, as though I alluded to some fearful operation, at which her nature shudders, but from which her fortitude will not permit her to recoil.

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-- not be sucking the pap of "neutral family" papers, or browsing "Olive Branches" here in New England.

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'the Kenwigses,' were the wife and olive branches of one Mr Kenwigs, a turner in ivory, who was looked upon as a person of some consideration on the premises, inasmuch as he occupied the whole of the first floor, comprising a suite of two rooms.

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Madison, Ridgeland, and Olive Branch are three reasons to call Mississippi home.

Best in the U.S

Soylu also stressed that after the Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield operations were conducted, 285,000 Syrian refugees returned to Syria.

Turkish interior minister discloses exact number of Syrian refugees

Summary: TEHRAN (FNA)- The Turkish Army units and Ankara-backed militants managed to prevail over the Kurdish fighters' positions and enter the key town of Afrin in Northwestern Aleppo within the framework of Operation Olive Branch, field sources said on Sunday.

Northern Syria: Turkish Troops, Allied Militants Enter Kurdish-Held Afrin