gasconade

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See also: Gasconade

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From French gasconnade, from Gascon (native of Gascony) +‎ -ade, equivalent to Gascon (native of Gascony) +‎ -ade, literally "to talk like a Gascon".[1] See French gasconnade.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gasconade (countable and uncountable, plural gasconades)

  1. Boastful talk.
    • 1652, Thomas Urquhart, “Εκσκυβαλαυρον [Ekskubalauron] (The Jewel)”, in The Works of Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty, Knight[1], Edinburgh: Thomas Maitland Dundrennan, published 1834, →ISBN, page 217:
      [] the Gasconads of France, Rodomontads of Spain, Fanfaronads of Italy, and Bragadochio brags of all other countries, could no more astonish his invincible heart, then would the cheeping of a mouse a bear robbed of her whelps.
    • 1687, Reflections on the Historical Part of Church Government[2], 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, Jean-Jacques Rousseau [W. Cunningham Mallory], Confessions[3], archived from the original on 8 September 2007, Book III:
      "This Gasconade surprised Le Maitre — 'You'll see,' said he, whispering to me, 'that he does not know a single note.'"
    • 1874–1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 3, in Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., [], published 1881, →OCLC:
      "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, page 816:
      Nor was the president's talk of abundant and inexhaustible resources mere gasconade.
    • 2020, Barton Gellman, Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State, Penguin, →ISBN, page 200:
      The message is a gamer's gasconade: We cheat, we steal, we eat your lunch.

Translations

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Adjective

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gasconade (comparative more gasconade, superlative most gasconade)

  1. (obsolete) Of or pertaining to exaggeration or extravagant boasting; bombastic.
    • 1714, Richard Steele, “A Journey to Paris in 1713”, in The Lover, & Selected Papers from "The Englishman", "Town Talk", "The Reader", "The Spinster"[4], Boston: Lee and Shepard Publishers, published 1889, The Englishman, page 320:
      But Poetry and her sister arts are now in the decline; since the Gasconade style is out of date they seem quite at a stand.

Verb

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

  1. (obsolete, derogatory) To talk boastfully.
    Synonyms: bluster, boast
    • 1817, The Quarterly Review[5], review of "Wilks's Historical Sketches of the South of India", 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[6], 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 []
    • 1986, Michael Beschloss, Mayday: Eisenhower, Khrushchev, and the U-2 Affair[7], page 64:
      For two hours, [Khrushchev] gasconaded about the tenfold revaluation of the ruble and the abolition of the Soviet income tax by 1965.

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “gasconade”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.