drawcansir

English

Alternative forms

• Draw-can-sir

Etymology

After Drawcansir, a character in George Villiers' play The Rehearsal. The character's name is a play on Almanzor, from Dryden's The Conquest of Granada.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /dɹɔːˈkansə/

Noun

drawcansir (plural drawcansirs)

1. (now rare) A blustering, bullying person; a braggart. [from 17th c.]
   • 1791, James Boswell, No Abolition of Slavery:

     Drawcansir Dolben would destroy / Both slavery and licentious joy; / Foe to all sorts of planters, he / Will suffer neither bond nor free.

   • 1852, Washington Irving, Tales from the Alhambra:

     While we were supping with our drawcansir friend, we heard the notes of a guitar and the click of castanets, and presently a chorus of voices singing a popular air.