put on airs

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

put on airs (third-person singular simple present puts on airs, present participle putting on airs, simple past and past participle put on airs)

1. (idiomatic) To become haughty, to assume a pretentious manner.

   Synonym: give oneself airs

   • 1921 June, Margery Williams, “The Velveteen Rabbit: Or How Toys Become Real”, in Harper’s Bazar, volume LVI, number 6 (2504 overall), New York, N.Y.: International Magazine Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     Even Timothy, the jointed wooden lion, who was made by the disabled soldiers, and should have had broader views, put on airs and pretended he was connected with Government.

Translations

become haughty, assume a haughty manner

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 擺架子／摆架子 (zh) (bǎijiàzi), 擺譜兒／摆谱儿 (zh) (bǎipǔr), 拿大 (zh) (nádà)

• Esperanto: afekti (eo)
• Finnish: mahtailla (fi)
• French: se donner des airs, prendre des airs (fr)
• German: sich aufspielen (de)
• Hungarian: felvág (hu), affektál (hu), megjátssza magát
• Icelandic: gera sig merkilegan, setja upp hátíðarsvip, snúa upp á sig
• Italian: darsi delle arie
• Japanese: 体裁振る (ていさいぶる, teisai-buru), 見栄をはる (みえをはる, mie-o haru)
• Norman: faithe la reine
• Polish: puszyć się jak paw (pl)
• Portuguese: empinar o nariz, erguer o nariz
• Russian: ва́жничать (ru) (vážničatʹ)
• Spanish: darse aires, darse tono, hacer el paripé
• Swedish: göra sig märkvärdig, göra sig till (sv)
• Tagalog: magmaganda

See also

• lord it over

Anagrams

• Proustian, Trupianos, rainspout, supinator