brag

English

Etymology

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; or from Old Norse bragr (“best; foremost; poetry”); or through Old English from Old Norse braka (“to creak”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹæɡ/
• Hyphenation: brag
• Rhymes: -æɡ

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Noun

brag (plural brags)

1. A boast or boasting; bragging; ostentatious pretence or self-glorification.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene i]:

     Caesar […] made not here his brag / Of "came", and "saw", and "overcame".

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: Printed [by 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.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chesterfield to this entry?)

Derived terms

• bragless

Translations

boast — see boast

card game

• French: brag (fr) m

Verb

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.

   to brag of one's exploits, courage, or money

   • c. 1591–1595, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene vi]:

     Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, / Brags of his substance, not of ornament. / Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade

2. (transitive) To boast of.

Synonyms

• boast

Hyponyms

• brag on

Derived terms

• braggard
• humblebrag

Related terms

• bragging rights

Translations

to boast

• Arabic: تَبَاهَى‎ (tabāhā)
• Azerbaijani: öyünmək (az), güvənmək (az), lovğalanmaq, maxtanmaq (dialectal)
• Bulgarian: хваля се (hvalja se), перча се (perča se)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吹牛 (zh) (chuīniú), 吹噓 (zh), 吹嘘 (zh) (chuīxū), 自誇 (zh), 自夸 (zh) (zìkuā)

• Czech: chvástat se
• Danish: prale, blære sig
• Dutch: opscheppen (nl)
• Finnish: kerskailla (fi) (+ adessive), kerskua (fi) (+ elative), rehennellä (fi), leuhkia (fi)
• French: fanfaronner (fr), se vanter (fr)
• German: angeben (de), prahlen (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: καυχάομαι (kaukháomai), κομπάζω (kompázō), ἀλαζονεύομαι (alazoneúomai)

• Hungarian: dicsekszik (hu), henceg (hu), nagyzol (hu), kérkedik (hu), hetvenkedik (hu), felvág (hu), hivalkodik (hu)
• Irish: braigeáil
• Italian: vantarsi

• Japanese: 自慢する (ja) (jiman suru), 力む (ja) (rikimu)
• Korean: 자랑하다 (ko) (jaranghada), 나대다 (ko) (nadaeda)
• Latin: glorior
• Maori: whakatāwāhi, whakameremere
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: skryte

• Old English: ġielpan
• Persian: لافیدن‎ (fa) (lâfidan)
• Polish: przechwalać się impf, chełpić się (pl) impf
• Portuguese: gabar-se, vangloriar-se
• Romanian: (se) lăuda
• Russian: хва́статься (ru) (xvástatʹsja), хвалиться (ru) impf (xvalitʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хвалити се, хвалисати се, хвастати се

  Roman: hvaliti se (sh), hvalisati se (sh), hvastati se

• Slovak: vychvaľovať sa, chvastať sa
• Spanish: fanfarronear (es), presumir (es), jactarse (es)
• Swedish: skryta (sv)
• Turkish: böbürlenmek (tr), iftihar etmek (tr), övünmek (tr)
• Westrobothnian: brega

Adjective

brag (comparative bragger, superlative braggest)

1. Excellent; first-rate.
2. (archaic) Brisk; full of spirits; boasting; pretentious; conceited.
   • 1633, Ben Jonson, A Tale of a Tub

   a woundy, brag young fellow

Adverb

brag (comparative more brag, superlative most brag)

1. (obsolete) proudly; boastfully

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)

Anagrams

• ARGB, garb, grab

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Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse brak.

Noun

brag n (singular definite braget, plural indefinite brag)

1. bang, crash

Inflection

Declension of brag

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

Related terms

• brage verb

Verb

brag

1. imperative of brage

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North Frisian

Etymology

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

Noun

brag f (plural bragen)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) bridge