brag

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English braggen (“to make a loud noise; to speak boastfully”) of unknown origin. Possibly related to the Middle English adjective brag (“prideful; spirited”), which is probably of Celtic origin;[1] or from Old Norse bragr (“best; foremost; poetry”);[2] or through Old English from Old Norse braka (“to creak”).[3]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /bɹæɡ/
  • Hyphenation: brag
  • Rhymes: -æɡ
  • Audio (UK)(file)

Noun[edit]

brag (plural brags)

  1. A boast or boasting; bragging; ostentatious pretence or self-glorification.
  2. The thing which is boasted of.
    • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], H[enry] Lawes, editor, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, OCLC 228715864; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, OCLC 1113942837:
      Beauty is Nature's brag.
    • 2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better‎[1], Plum, →ISBN, page 192:
      You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.
  3. (by ellipsis) The card game three card brag.
    • January 23 1752, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, in Letters to His Son, published in 1774
      our mixed companies here, which, if they happen to rise above bragg and whist, infallibly stop short of every thing either pleasing or instructive

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

boast — see boast

Verb[edit]

brag (third-person singular simple present brags, present participle bragging, simple past and past participle bragged)

  1. (intransitive) To boast; to talk with excessive pride about what one has, is able to do, or has done; often as an attempt to popularize oneself.
  2. (transitive) To boast of something.
    to brag of one's exploits, courage, or money

Synonyms[edit]

Hyponyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

brag (comparative bragger, superlative braggest)

  1. Excellent; first-rate.
  2. (archaic) Brisk; full of spirits; boasting; pretentious; conceited.
    a woundy, brag young fellow

Adverb[edit]

brag (comparative more brag, superlative most brag)

  1. (obsolete) proudly; boastfully
    • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Aegloga Secunda.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], OCLC 606515406; reprinted as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, The Shepheardes Calender […], London: John C. Nimmo, […], 1890, OCLC 890162479:
      Seest how brag yond bullock beare […] his pricked eares?

References[edit]

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “brag”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2022), “wile”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.;
  3. ^ “brag” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams[edit]

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse brak, related to braka (“to break, crack”).

Noun[edit]

brag n (singular definite braget, plural indefinite brag)

  1. bang, crash

Inflection[edit]

Declension of brag
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative brag braget brag bragene
genitive brags bragets brags bragenes

Related terms[edit]

Verb[edit]

brag

  1. imperative of brage

North Frisian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Frisian bregge, which derives from Proto-West Germanic *bruggju. Cognates include West Frisian brêge.

Noun[edit]

brag f (plural bragen)

  1. (Föhr-Amrum) bridge
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