Crossword Dictionary
BOAST
boast, boasting, self-praise, jactitation - n
speaking of yourself in superlatives
Synonyms
blow, brag, bull [slang], crow, gasconade, swagger, vapor, vaunt
Examples
He could boast that he left the relations between the United States and Canada on an excellent footing.
It was his just boast to have transformed mechanics (defined by him as a "geometry of four dimensions") into a branch of analysis, and to have exhibited the so-called mechanical "principles" as simple results of the calculus.
We can boast that our clutch & brake pedals have been designed to have more grip than any of our competitors.
Etymology
mid-13c., "arrogance, presumption, pride, vanity;" c. 1300, "a brag, boastful speech," from Anglo-French bost "ostentation," probably from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian baus "proud, bold, daring"), from Proto-Germanic *bausia "to blow up, puff up, swell" (source also of Middle High German bus "swelling," dialectal German baustern "to swell;" Middle Dutch bose, Dutch boos "evil, wicked, angry," Old High German bosi "worthless, slanderous," German böse "evil, bad, angry"), from PIE *bhou-, variant of root *beu-, *bheu-, a root supposed to have formed words associated with swelling (see bull (n.2)).