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Boast

//bəʊst// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A brag; ostentatious positive appraisal of oneself.
  2. 2
    speaking of yourself in superlatives wordnet
  3. 3
    Something that one brags about.

    "It was his regular boast that he could eat two full English breakfasts in one sitting."

  4. 4
    A shot where the ball is driven off a side wall and then strikes the front wall.
Verb
  1. 1
    To brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself. intransitive

    "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. 2
    To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel.
  3. 3
    show off wordnet
  4. 4
    (used with "about" or "of") To speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol. transitive

    "Lest bad men should boast / Their specious deeds."

  5. 5
    To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required.
Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    wear or display in an ostentatious or proud manner wordnet
  2. 7
    To speak in exulting language of another; to glory; to exult. obsolete

    "In God we boast all the day long."

  3. 8
    To play a boast shot.
  4. 9
    To possess (a special and desirable quality). transitive

    "The hotel boasts one of the best views of the sea."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

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