boast

Meaning

Noun

1. A brag; ostentatious positive appraisal of oneself.
2. Something that one brags about.
3. A shot where the ball is driven off a side wall and then strikes the front wall.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself.
2. (transitive) (used with "about" or "of") To speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol.
3. (obsolete) To speak in exulting language of another; to glory; to exult.
4. To play a boast shot.
5. (transitive) To possess (a special and desirable quality).

Verb

1. To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel.
2. To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required.

Synonyms

brag

vaunt

show off

talk big

swagger

praise oneself

bluster

crow

shoot a line

blow one’s own trumpet

pride

be proud

bragging

flaunt

gloat

gasconade

strut

pride oneself

exaggerate

tout

self-praise

glory

blow

gas

swash

jactitation

put on airs

boasting

feature

become vain

proud of

proud

presumptuous

tall talk

big talk

display

brag about

swank

rant

rodomontade

ostentate

sport

flourish

bray

flatulence

bragger

puff

feat

extol

braggadocio

Translations

se vanter

vantarsi

jactarse

prahlen

fanfaronner

vanter

fanfarronear

angeben

opscheppen

presumir

vantardise

pochen

alardear

snoeven

ostentar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bəʊst/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: bosten

Cognate with Scots: bost

Cognate with Anglo-Norman: bost

Cognate with Norwegian: baus

Cognate with German: baustern

Cognate with German: böse

Cognate with Dutch: boos

Cognate with Western Frisian: boas

Cognate with Norwegian: -

In summary

From Middle English bosten, from bost (“boast, glory, noise, arrogance, presumption, pride, vanity”), probably of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bausuz (“inflated, swollen, puffed up, proud, arrogant, bad”).
Cognate with Scots bost, boist (“to threaten, brag, boast”), Anglo-Norman bost (“ostentation”) (from Germanic). Related to Norwegian baus (“proud, bold, daring”), dialectal German baustern (“to swell”), German böse (“evil, bad, angry”), Dutch boos (“evil, wicked, angry”), West Frisian boas (“bad, wicked, angry, shrewd, clever”). Compare also dialectal Norwegian bausta, busta (“to rush onward, make a noise”). Possible doublet of boost.