olive branch1 
noun
An offer of reconciliation: the government is holding out an olive branch to the demonstrators...
- He told them the party had offered an olive branch and reconciliation to Lucky after she introduced professional and personal integrity at their caucus.
- By electing a senior Islamic cleric, the cardinals could avoid exacerbating the split in the divided Catholic church, while simultaneously holding out an olive branch to another great world religion.
- A rawdon school seeking to move to a new site is holding out an olive branch to those who fiercely opposed the move.
Origin
In allusion to the story of Noah in Gen. 8:1, in which a dove returns with an olive branch after the Flood, taken as a symbol of peace after God's punishment of mankind.
Olive Branch2
A city in northern Mississippi, just south of the Tennessee border; population 31,830 (est. 2008).