Boast | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Bōast, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. BOASTED; p. pr. & vb. n. BOASTING.] [O. Eng. bost. Cf. Ger. bausen, bauschen, bausten, preusten, to swell, pusten, Dan. puste, Sw. pusta, to blow, Sw. pōsa, to swell; W. bostio, bostiau, to boast, bost, boast, bostiad, a boasting. But the W. may have been taken from English. Cf. Boost.] To brag, or vaunt one’s self; to exalt, or extravagantly praise one’s self; to glory;—usually followed with of.

By grace are ye saved through faith; . . . not of works, lest any man should boast. Eph. ii. 8, 9.

My sentence is for open war; of wiles More inexpert I boast not. Milton.

Synonyms—To brag; vaunt; bluster; vapor; crow; crack; talk big.

Bōast, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. 1. To display in ostentatious language; to speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation. Lest men should boast their specious deeds. Milton.

Reflexively, to magnify or exalt one's self; to exult in confident expectation.
(Masonry.) To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel. Weale.
(Sculp.) To shape roughly, as a block of marble, so as to form a rude statue or ornament. Weale.

Bōast, n.

noun

n. 1. Expression of ostentation, pride, or vanity; a vaunting or bragging. Reason and morals? and where live they most, In Christian comfort, or in Stoic boast? Byron. 2. The cause of boasting; occasion of pride, vanity, or laudable exultation. “The boast of historians.” Macaulay.