▪ I. boasting, vbl. n.1
(ˈbəʊstɪŋ)
[f. boast v.1 + -ing1.]
1. Ostentatious or vainglorious speaking.
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 408 Þe gospel telliþ of bosting of a proude man. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 90 b, Iactaunce or bostynge, ypocrisy or fayned holynes. 1607 Shakes. Cor. ii. i. 23 Topping all others in boasting. 1830 Tennyson Poems 32 Is not my human pride brought low? The boastings of my spirit still? |
† 2. Threatening, menacing language. Obs.
| 1600 J. Melvill Diary (1842) 68 He braks out in coler & bosting. |
Hence † ˈboastingful a.
| 1552 in Huloet. |
▪ II. ˈboasting, vbl. n.2
[f. boast v.2 + -ing1.]
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 581 Boasting; in stone-cutting, paring the stone irregularly with a broad chisel and mallet; in carving, the rough cutting of the outline, before the minuter parts. |
▪ III. ˈboasting, ppl. a.
[f. boast v.1 + -ing2.]
1. That boasts or brags.
| 1552 Huloet, Boastynge or that doth boast, gloriosus. 1602 N. Breton Mothers Bless. xiv, A boasting tongue is like a heard-mans horne. 1769 Burke Pres. St. Nat. Wks. II. 117 After all the boasting speeches..of his faction. |
† 2. Threatening. Sc. Obs.
| 1646 Row Hist. Kirk (1842) 324 Whilk occasioned the King to writ doune a verie sharp and boasting letter. 1820 Scott Abbot Note L, Lindesay was arrived in a boasting, that is, threatening humour. |