brag
/braɡ
/verb (brags, bragging, bragged) [reporting verb]
Say something in a boastful manner: [with clause]: he bragged that he was sure of victory [no object]: they were bragging about how easy it had been...
- People bragged about their impeccable references and newly renovated websites that would maximize their client base.
- As a great hunter he bragged about his nighttime sharp shooting.
- He later bragged that he was the only performer ever to get a complex comic scene right without needing a second take.
Synonyms
boast, crow, show off, swagger, swank, bluster, gloat, blow one's own trumpet, sing one's own praises, congratulate oneself, pat oneself on the back, preen oneself, give oneself airs
informal talk big, blow hard, lay it on thick, shoot one's mouth off
North American informal shoot the bull, speak for Buncombe
Australian/New Zealand informal skite, big-note oneself
literary vaunt, roister, hyperbolize
archaic rodomontade, gasconade
noun
1 [mass noun] A gambling card game which is a simplified form of poker: games of pontoon, brag, and poker...
- The basic game of three card brag was one of the games described by Hoyle, and therefore dates from the late eighteenth century or earlier.
- At a game of three card brag at work once, I had a prial of threes (top hand) and my opponent had a prial of aces (next highest).
- Men of all walks of life clustered around the tables in the spacious downstairs to play brag, Three-Card-Monte and Chuck-a-Luck on the off chance of making a fortune.
2A boastful statement: he was not the kind of man to make a brag...
- Don't ask them - or their insurers - what they think of Guinness and his little book of brags.
- ‘Girls I would like to speak to you in my room,’ - mom interrupted Penny's brags and we went up to mom's room.
- Two months more of big brags and felonious facts.
adjective [attributive] US informal
Excellent; first-rate: that was my brag heifer...
- These pups should make excellent prospects for trialing or be true brag dogs in the future.
- I kind of like having an outcross pedigree to all of the big "brag" bulls so I guess I don't have any incentive falsify the registration papers.
Derivatives
bragger
- He had no use for cheaters or braggers or loafers.
- Lash a few beers into them though and they become braggers of the highest order and will admit and confess to the crimes they have committed.
- I just don't like it when braggers such as you rub my loss in my face!
Origin
Middle English (as an adjective in the sense 'boastful'): of unknown origin (French braguer is recorded only later).