sb. and a. Also 6 bragart, 7 bragard, (braggate), 7–9 braggard. [a. 16th c. F. bragard, f. brague-r to brag; see -ARD.]
A. sb. A vain bragger, one who brags much.
a. 1577. Gascoigne, Wks. (1587), 74. In braggarts bote which set it selfe on sands.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. i. 105. A Braggart, a Rogue … that fights by the booke of Arithmeticke.
1612. T. James, Jesuits’ Downef., 4. As if they were … bragging braggates of Toledo.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., ii. 128. Marshall Biron will dye like a mad man, and Parry like a braggard.
1812. Coleridge, Braggard.
1856. Thackeray, Christmas Bks. (1872), 86. The real master of the school is Prince … pitiless with fools and braggarts.
B. adj. and attrib. Bragging, vainly boastful.
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Bragard, fine, trime, proude.
1735. Pope, Donne Sat., IV. 201. Truth! shall I quit thee For puffing, braggart, puft nobility?
1846. Arnold, Hist. Rome, III. xlvi. 347. If in his lifetime he indulged in … braggart language.
1882. Farrar, Early Chr., II. 66. Braggart self-confidence.
Hence, Braggart-like adv., and Braggartly a.
a. 1845. Hood, Last Man, xxiv. To see him lording so braggart-like.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, III. Comm. (1857), 79. Whoever saw true learning … vouchsafe mansion in any … braggartly spirit.
