gasconade

English

Alternative forms

• Gasconade

Etymology

From French gasconnade.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ɡaskəˈneɪd/
• Rhymes: -eɪd

Noun

gasconade (plural gasconades)

1. Boastful talk.
   • 1687, Reflections on the Historical Part of Church Government^[1], volume 5, Oxford: Theatre, page 60:

     If the Author was Jesuite enough to say this to himself, before he wrote it, he may come off, If not, it will prove a most unconscionable Gasconade. Pate ^a was never Bishop of Rochester, but of Worcester; he was not Banish'd, but Fed; and this not in King Edward's time, but in King Henry's.

   • 1782, W. Cunningham Mallory, translation of Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Book III [2]:

     "This Gasconade surprised Le Maitre — 'You'll see,' said he, whispering to me, 'that he does not know a single note.'"

   • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque Chapter III:

     "Just now... a cry from the opposite party who are content when they have enough, and like to look on and enjoy in the meanwhile, savours a little of bravado and gasconade."

   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2004, p. 816:

     Nor was the president's talk of abundant and inexhaustible resources mere gasconade.

Translations

• German: Gascognade f

Verb

gasconade (third-person singular simple present gasconades, present participle gasconading, simple past and past participle gasconaded)

1. (obsolete, derogatory) To talk boastfully.
   • 1817, review of "Wilks's Historical Sketches of the South of India," in The Quarterly Review [3], page 57:

     "The Frenchman, not being able to bring the precise number, received only, as the first month's pay, 2,000 rupees. He demanded an audience, talked loud, and gasconaded."

   • 1847, Dorothy (Wordsworth) Quillinan, Journal of a Few Months Residence in Portugal and Glimpses of the South of Spain [4], page 246:

     "...he gasconaded on the theme of his personal exploits in the Seven Years' War of France in Spain, as if he had been as prime a sword-player as Murat..."

Synonyms

• bluster
• boast

Usage notes

Seldom used after the late 19th century. Appears overwhelmingly in references to the French.