It was very common on old ‘cowboys and Indians’ movies’, at least on the old Spanish language translated reruns I watched as a kid: Some scout returned to some army fort and reported the presence of ‘500 braves’ coming from the north o hidden beyond some mountain or something like that.

It's often used in a wild west sorta way, "we were surrounded by braves". It's super outdated, for sure, as are most words that mean "my enemy's warriors".

example: "We came across a camp with twenty braves."

It's an unusual usage. Fun Fact: "brave" when referring to male warriors is assumed to come from Spanish bravo which means "courageous, untamed, savage".

The association of courage and savagery comes from Spanish Renaissance culture and both meanings are meant simultaneously - that is, savages - those prone to violence -- were associated with courage and vice versa. Because English didn't have such an association, the word was repurposed to have two meanings and the second meaning fell into disuse after the 19th Century.

Now in the 21st century, unless you are reading a book written in the 1800s, when you hear "brave" you can pretty much assume it's an adjective with the primary usage.

The Atlanta Braves is a Major League Baseball team.

Used like you would use “warrior”.

When I was growing up (many years ago now) we were taught that the indigenous people of North America were not men and women, but braves and squaws. Like stallions and mares, bucks and does, roosters and hens.

> A little Indian brave who before he was ten

> Played war games in the woods with his Indian friends

> And he built a dream that when he grew up

> He would be a fearless warrior, Indian Chief

> Many moons passed, and more the dream grew strong

> Until tomorrow he would sing his first war song

> And fight his first battle

> But something went wrong

> Surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night

> And so castles made of sand > Melts into the sea eventually

From Jimi Hendrix's Castles Made of Sand, one of his better and more underrated tunes.

The dictionary sez: "a North American Indian warrior"