| 释义 |
▪ I. brag, n.1|bræg|
Also 5–8 bragg(e, 6 braggue.
[The etymology of brag n.1, v., adj., and their mutual relations are uncertain. There are several related words in 16th c. French, braguer ‘to flaunt, brave, brag’, bragueur, braguerie; bragard ‘gay, gallant, braggard, braggadochio-like’, bragarder ‘to brave it, to brag, vaunt’, bragardise, etc. (all in Cotgr.); but as these appear so late, while some of the Eng. words go back to 1300, the latter cannot be referred to a French origin (though the later braggart and braggery may). The words are not in other Romanic langs., and their origin has been variously sought in Celtic and in Norse: see Diez. It is doubtful whether the adj. or n. is the earlier in Eng.; both appear before the vb. The order of senses is also uncertain.
Diez conjectured that the Fr. might be from ON. brak ‘creaking noise’ (Sw. brak bounce, Da. brag), braka (Da. brage) ‘to creak, crack, insolenter se gerere’ Haldorss.; others have suggested ON. bragr ‘the best, the foremost, the boast or toast (of anything)’; also ‘poetry’. See Diez, Wedgwood, Skeat.]
†1. A loud noise, the bray of a trumpet. (Cf. brag v. 1.) Obs.
1513Douglas æneis ix. viii. 105 Bot than the trumpettis weirly blastis aboundis, Wyth terribill brag of brasin bludy soundis.
2. Arrogant or boastful language (in earlier examples usually in phrase brag and boast); boasting, boastful assertion. (Phrase French brag, common in 16th c.; also used in sense 3.)
c1360Know Thyself in E.E.P. (1862) 132 Vr bost vr brag is sone ouerbide. 1387Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. III. 427 [These words] haveþ more of brag and of boost. c1440York Myst. xlvi. 225 His bragge and his boste is he besie to bid vs. 1513Douglas æneis xi. vii. 127 With brag and bost [v.r. braik and boist] or wapynnis, he Me doith awayt. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xxiv. 53 Not makyng vauntes and braggues of their weorkes. 1548Hall Chron. (1809) 192 Melune..and diuerse other tounes, yelded and turned at a proude crake, or a Frenche bragge, without stroke striken. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. v. ii. 34 Cesars Thrasonicall bragge of I came, saw, and ouercome. 1753Richardson Grandison (1781) IV. 242 My Uncle..sometimes reminds me of what he calls my former brags. 1877Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. xv. 354 He has thus held his place..not without a certain brag of his strength.
b. in Proverb.
1618Barnevelt's Apol. E iv b, Bragge is a good Dog still. 1752Johnson Rambl. No. 197. ⁋3 When I envied the finery of any of my neighbours, [my mother] told me that ‘Brag was a good dog, but Holdfast was a better.’
†3. Show, pomp, display; pompous demeanour or carriage. Obs.
1494Fabyan vi. ccxii. 227 The bragge or pompe of the worlde. a1553Udall Royster D. (Arb.) 48 Ye must haue a portely bragge after your estate..Vp man with your head and chin. 1577Holinshed Chron. III. 850/1 They were all French in apparell, yea, and in French vices and brags. 1632G. Herbert Temple, Content, The brags of life are but a nine days wonder.
4. concr. That which is boasted of; the ‘boast’.
1538Leland Itin. II. 52 This [the Fair is] one of the Bragges of the Toun. 1634Milton Comus 745 Beauty is nature's brag.
5. A person who brags, a braggart, a boaster.
1671J. Webster Metallogr. xv. 233 They [Chymists] are nothing but vain and ignorant brags. 1881Evans Leicester. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Brag, a boaster.
6. A game at cards, essentially identical with the modern game of ‘poker’. The name is taken from the ‘brag’ or challenge given by one of the players to the rest to turn up cards equal in value to his. See also quotations. Also attrib., as in brag-party.
1734Seymour Compl. Gamester 20 The main Thing by which the second Stake is to be won, is called the Brag, which..gives the Game its Denomination. 1749H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann (1834) II. cxcix. 265 Methodism is more fashionable than anything but brag; the women play very deep at both. 1822Encycl. Brit. s.v., A pair of aces is the best brag, a pair of kings the next, and so on. 1855Geo. Eliot in Cross Life (1885) I. 356 One night we attempted ‘Brag’ or ‘Pocher.’ 1859J. Lang Wand. India 16 Two young gentlemen were victimized last night at the brag party.
b. fig. with a reference to sense 2. to play a game of brag: to try which can impose on or get the better of the other by boasting.
1883Fortn. Rev. Dec. 895 The two countries may be still only engaged in a game of brag.
▸ brag book n. colloq. (orig. N. Amer.) a book, typically a small photo album or scrapbook, used to share or display sources of pride such as family photos or records of achievement.
1924Youth's Compan. 24 Apr. 280/1 I'm doing my best to keep the men who are getting out the County *Brag Book from going away from here empty. 1961Brainerd (Minnesota) Daily Dispatch 3 May 15 (advt.) Brag books..bound photo books with clear plastic pages. 1988Community Express (Austral.) (Nexis) 4 Oct. Judging by the certificates and clippings he has collected and kept in what he calls his ‘brag book’, they have been 12 very successful years. 2003J. McManus Positively Fifth Street 202 I've positioned the brag book on the cushion.., opening it to the page on which Jennifer reads The Big Hungry Bear.
▪ II. † brag, n.2 Obs. exc. dial.
[Derivation unknown.]
A large nail.
[1371Rogers Agric. & Prices (1866) I. xx. 500 York gives two unique names ‘brags’ and ‘scot-nails’ under the year 1371.] c1440York Myst. xxxiv. 95 Here are bragges þat will noght faile. 1702Thoresby in Phil. Trans. XXV. 1864 Brags, or great Iron Nails.
▪ III. † brag, n.3 Obs. rare.
(See quot.)
c1682J. Collins Mak. Salt 25 In..Surrey, their Wheatfields were formerly much annoyed with Smut or Brag.
▪ IV. brag, a. and quasi-adv.|bræg|
Also bragge.
[See brag n.1]
†1. Spirited, brisk, lively, mettlesome, valiant. Obs.
a1300Wright Lyric P. (1842) 24 That maketh us so brag and bolde, and biddeth us ben blythe. c1350Will. Palerne 3048 Best of his bodi boldest & braggest in armes. 1600Holland Livy xxv. xxxix. 579 e, The Romanes..lustie and brag for their new victorie, began to make a fray. 1610G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. i, The bragge lambes ranne wantoning about.
†2. Boastful (of). Obs.
c1315Shoreham 110 Prede..That ketheth wordes bragge. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 119 b, They are as bragge and as proude as pecockes. 1655W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. i. (1669) 75/1 Not the braggest Philosopher among the Gentiles.
†3. quasi-adv. Haughtily, boastfully. Obs.
c1350Will. Palerne 2352 Summe þat bere hem now brag schuld blede or euen. c1394P. Pl. Crede 706 Hy schulde nouȝt beren hem so bragg. 1572R. H. Lauaterus' Ghostes (1596) 41 They vaunted and bare themselues very brag on their priuiledges. 1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb., Seest how brag yond bullock beares..his pricked eares?
†4. Comb. brag-brained, head-strong. Obs.
1648Petit. Eastern Assoc. 20 Whirl-crown'd, and bragg-braind Opinionists.
5. Prime, first-rate, surpassingly good. U.S.
1836Jeffersonian 5 May 96 (Th.), The Moselle was a new brag boat, and had made several quick trips. 1857Knickerbocker Sept. 292 Isaac had once been the ‘brag hand’ of the plantation. 1893Outing (U.S.) XXII. 92/1 His [sc. the pup's] sire was the brag runner of the country. 1904W. N. Harben Georgians xvi. 160 A boy that blowed an army bugle come, an' the brag singer, a young man that sung ‘Whar is my wanderin' boy to-night?’
▪ V. brag, v.|bræg|
Also 4–7 bragge, 6 brage, braggue, Sc. braig.
[See under brag n.1]
†1. intr. Of a trumpet: To sound loudly; also, to make a loud sound (with a trumpet); trans. to sound (a trumpet). Cf. brag n.1 1.
1382Wyclif Josh. vi. 5 Whanne the voyce of the trompe..in ȝoure eeris braggith [1388 sowne]. a1400Morte Arth. 1484 Thane þe Bretones boldely braggene þeire tromppez. Ibid. 4108 Bremly the brethemen bragges in troumppes.
2. intr. and refl. To vaunt, talk boastfully, boast oneself. (In earlier examples chiefly in conjunction with boast.) Const. (on, in, obs.) of, about.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 281 For-why he bosteth and braggeth with many bolde othes. 1543Hen. VIII Parl. Speech 24 Dec., If I see a Man boast and brag himself, I cannot but deem him a Proud Man. c1645Howell Lett. (1688) II. 389 The fashion of his Face which..he hath no cause to brag of. 1647W. Browne Polex. i. 225, I will no more brag in being one of his slaves. 1728Morgan Algiers II. ii. 234 Nor has our [Nation] abundance of Reason to brag of its superabundant Regularity. 1786Wolcott (P. Pindar) Ode R. A's x. Wks. 1812 I. 154 Garrick, on whom our Nation justly brags. 1858Gladstone Homer III. 562 The disposition of the Trojan chief to brag.
†b. To swagger, strut, ‘show off’. Obs.
a1553Udall Royster D. (Arb.) 64 Idle loytrers, braggyng vp and downe. 1578T. N. Conq. W. India 40 They should..not thus bragge in other mens land. 1589R. Harvey Pl. Perc. (1860) 28 You shal haue a lame Iade, bridle and brag it vp and downe Smithfield.
fig.1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 683 She's quick, the child brags in her belly alreadie: 'tis yours [i.e. Braggart's].
3. trans.
a. To defy proudly, challenge; also, to bully, threaten. Obs. exc. dial.
b. To impose upon or overawe by boasting (mod., perhaps with allusion to game of brag).
1551R. Ascham Let. Wks. 1865 I. ii. 257 Two fair castles of either side of Rhene..one bragging the other. a1555Ridley Wks. 115 They will outface, brace, and brag all men. 1584J. Carmichael Let. in Misc. Wodrow Soc. (1844) 438 The King..boasting the poor, and bragging the rich. 1823Scott Quentin D. I. 60 (D.) An artist who might brag all Paris. 1843Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. 58 Amateurs from one part of the county..by challenging or bragging those of the vicinity..provoked a vigorous competition. 1876G. J. Whyte-Melville Katerfelto xviii. 202 Our old Duke wasn't to be bragged at such a game as that.
4. To boast of, vaunt, lay boastful claim to.
1588A. King Canisius' Catech. 224 Na man quha braigs confidence and certantie of ye remission of his sinnes. 1600S. Nicholson Acolastus (1876) 54 Euery stalke Brags the sweete blossomes he is blest withall. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. iii. 93 He brags his seruice. 1625K. Long Barclay's Argenis (1636) 389 These which bragge their skill in controversies. 1790Morison Poems 82 (Jam.) Ye'll brag high rank, Or heaps o' siller.
5. To declare or assert boastfully, to boast. Const. with obj. inf. (obs.) or subord. clause.
1563–87Foxe A. & M. III. 878 The very meanest..bragged that they had bathed their hands in the blood of a Lutheran. 1627P. Fletcher Locusts iii. xxviii, That eye, and eare, Which being blind, and deafe, bragges best to see, and heare. a1659Cleveland Rebel Scot i, No more let Ireland brag her harmless nation Harbours no venom. 1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. v. iii, I'll..brag for aye that I was ca'd the aunt O' our young lady. 1870Bryant Iliad viii. I. 248 Bragged that each of you would be a match For fivescore Trojans.
6. In the game of brag (see brag n. 6).
1734Seymour Compl. Gamester 21 The best Cards you can have really to brag of are a Pair Royal of Aces. |