▪ I. ˈvaunting, vbl. n. Now arch.
[f. vaunt v.]
The action of the vb.; boasting, bragging.
| c 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1145 Honours nuryshes, als men may se, Vayn glory, vauntyng and vanite. 1586 Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 51, I could alwaies find an Asse by his braying, and scorne a rascall though he were neuer so full of vaunting. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. iv. iii. 52 You say, you are a better Souldier: Let it appeare so; make your vaunting true. 1611 Bible Wisdom xvii. 7 As for the illusions of arte Magicke, they were put downe, and their vaunting in wisedome was reprooued with disgrace. 1826 Scott Woodst. vii, Be moderate in speech, and forbear oaths or vaunting. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 349 To our generation the honest vaunting of our ancestors must appear almost ludicrous. 1864 Burton Scot Abroad I. iii. 112 The Earl of Flanders..having, in his vain vaunting, defeated so important a project. |
| attrib. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxiv. v, The hartes uprightly playn Shall have their vaunting scope. |
b. An instance of this; a boast.
| 1793 Ld. Auckland Corr. (1862) III. 27 His vauntings increase with his disgraces. a 1800 Cowper Iliad (ed. 2) xxi. 550 Let me never in my father's courts Such vauntings hear of thine again. 1838 Dickens Lett. (1880) I. 8 We had many delightful vauntings of the same kind. 1877 Smith's Dict. Chr. Biog. I. 133/2 The hypocritical vauntings of Clytemnestra. |
▪ II. ˈvaunting, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
1. That vaunts or boasts; given or addicted to boasting.
| 1589 Nashe Anat. Absurditie Wks. (Grosart) I. 51 No matter though such vanting vpstarts..become the scoffe of a Scholler. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, v. iii. 43 Many a Noble⁓man lies starke and stiffe Vnder the hooues of vaunting enemies. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 231, I my selfe have seen these vaunting Mountebanks calling themselves Psylli. 1632 Sherwood, A vaunting woman, ostentatrice. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week i. 39 Begin thy carols, then, thou vaunting slouch. 1730 Bailey (fol.), Braggard, a bragging, vaunting, vain glorious fellow. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxix, Would to God, Richard, or any of his vaunting minions of England, would appear in these lists! 1853 Lynch Self-Improv. ii. 45 An empty, vaunting person who has brass enough to face the world and to say there is no God in it. 1884 Marshall's Tennis Cuts 195 In the evenings he was vaunting, boastful, and declared he could play even Renshaw at evens. |
| transf. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iii. 4 Nim, rowse thy vaunting Veines: Boy, brissle thy Courage vp. |
2. Of a boastful nature or character; indicative of, proceeding from, boasting or vainglory.
| 1647 Hexham i. s.v., Vaunting and bragging wordes. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xi. 252 The vaunting accounts given by the Spaniards of her size, her guns, and her strength. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch's Lives (1879) I. 134/1 The vaunting shouts and songs of the barbarians. 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 66 Does not Pyrrho likewise speak in a ‘vaunting manner’ on several occasions? 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 583 Over one gate had been placed a vaunting inscription which defied the allies to wrench the prize from the grasp of France. 1897 Sarah Tytler Lady Jean's Son 205 Rejoicing over him in a vaunting and insolent manner. |