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Webster 1913 Edition

Boast

Boast

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Boasted
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Boasting
.]
[OE.
bosten
,
boosten
, v.,
bost
,
boost
, n., noise, boasting; cf. G.
bausen
,
bauschen
, to swell,
pusten
, Dan.
puste
, Sw.
pusta
, to blow, Sw.
pösa
to swell; or W.
bostio
to boast,
bost
boast, Gael.
bosd
. But these last may be from English.]
1.
To vaunt one’s self; to brag; to say or tell things which are intended to give others a high opinion of one's self or of things belonging to one's self;
as, to
boast
of one's exploits courage, descent, wealth
.
By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: . . not of works, lest any man should
boast
.
Eph. ii. 8, 9.
2.
To speak in exulting language of another; to glory; to exult.
In God we
boast
all the day long.
Ps. xliv. 8
Syn. – To brag; bluster; vapor; crow; talk big.

Boast

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To display in ostentatious language; to speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol.
Lest bad men should
boast

Their specious deeds.
Milton.
2.
To display vaingloriously.
3.
To possess or have;
as, to
boast
a name
.
To boast one's self
,
to speak with unbecoming confidence in, and approval of, one's self; – followed by of and the thing to which the boasting relates.
[Archaic]
Boast
not
thyself
of to-morrow.
Prov. xxvii. 1

Boast

,
Verb.
T.
[Of uncertain etymology.]
1.
(Masonry)
To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel.
Weale.
2.
(Sculp.)
To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required.

Boast

,
Noun.
1.
Act of boasting; vaunting or bragging.
Reason and morals? and where live they most,
In Christian comfort, or in Stoic
boast
!
Byron.
2.
The cause of boasting; occasion of pride or exultation, – sometimes of laudable pride or exultation.
The
boast
of historians.
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition

Boast

BOAST

,
Verb.
I.
[Gr. to inflate; L. fastus.]
1.
To brag,or vaunt one's self; to make an ostentatious display, in speech, of one's own worth, property, or actions.
2.
To glory; to speak with laudable pride and ostentation of meritorious persons or things.
I boast of you to them of Macedonia. St. Paul. 2. Cor.9.
Usually, it is followed by of; sometimes by in.
3.
To exalt one's self.
With your mouth you have boasted against me. Ezek.

BOAST

,
Verb.
T.
To display in ostentatious language; to speak of with pride, vanity or exultation, with a view to self-commendation.
Lest men should boast their specious deeds.
1.
Magnify or exalt.
They boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. Ps.49.
2.
To exult in confident expectation.
Boast not thyself of tomorrow. Prov.27.

BOAST

,
Noun.
Expression of ostentation, pride or vanity; a vaunting.
Thou makest thy boast of the law. Rom.2
1.
The cause of boasting; occasion of pride, vanity, or laudable exultation.
Trial by peers is the boast of the British nation.

Definition 2024

boast

boast

English

Noun

boast ‎(plural boasts)

  1. A brag, a loud positive appraisal of oneself.
  2. (squash (sport)) A shot where the ball is driven off a side wall and then strikes the front wall.
Translations

Verb

boast ‎(third-person singular simple present boasts, present participle boasting, simple past and past participle boasted)

  1. (intransitive) To brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself.
    • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 235c.
      On no account will he or any other kind be able to boast that he's escaped the pursuit of those who can follow so detailed and comprehensive a method of enquiry.
  2. (transitive) To speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol.
    • John Milton
      Lest bad men should boast / Their specious deeds.
    • 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:
      The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about "creating compelling content", or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
  3. (obsolete) To speak in exulting language of another; to glory; to exult.
    • Bible, Psalms xiiv. 8
      In God we boast all the day long.
  4. (squash (sport)) To play a boast shot.
  5. (ergative) To possess something special.
    The hotel boasts one of the best views of the sea.‎
    His family boasted a famous name.‎
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Verb

boast ‎(third-person singular simple present boasts, present participle boasting, simple past and past participle boasted)

  1. (masonry) To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Weale to this entry?)
  2. (sculpting) To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required.

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English boosten, 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”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bew- ‎(“to blow, inflate, swell”). Cognate with Scots bost, boist ‎(“to threaten, brag, boast”), Anglo-Norman bost ("ostentation"; < Germanic). Related to Norwegian baus ‎(“proud, bold, daring”), German dialectal baustern ‎(“to swell”), German böse ‎(“evil, bad, angry”), Dutch boos ‎(“evil, wicked, angry”), West Frisian boas ‎(“bad, wicked, angry, shrewd, clever”). Compare also Norwegian dialectal bausta, busta ‎(“to rush onward, make a noise”).

Pronunciation

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