▪ I. bravado, n.
(brəˈveɪdəʊ, -ˈvɑːdəʊ)
Also 6–7 brauado, braueado, 7 brauardo, bravadoe, brevada; pl. bravadoes (also -os).
[ad. Sp. bravada and F. bravade: see bravade and -ado2.]
1. Boastful or threatening behaviour; ostentatious display of courage or boldness; bold or daring action intended to intimidate or to express defiance; often, an assumption of courage or hardihood to conceal felt timidity, or to carry one out of a doubtful or difficult position.
Now usually in the singular, without a: less commonly a bravado or in pl.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 287 It was not that Spanish brauado. 1626 Caussin's Holy Crt. 62 To sound vain⁓glorious Brauado's. 1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentl. (1641) 110 These Gamesters, who in a bravado will set their patrimonies at a throw. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 362 Hee retreats with a bravado, that it deservs no answer. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. 128 Notwithstanding all his Bravadoes, he [Shame] promoteth the Fool, and none else. a 1707 Bp. Patrick Serm. 1 Sam. xvii. 8 To have been done out of a bravado. 1800 Weems Washington x. (1877) 119 To hear their bravadoes, one would suppose, etc. 1816 Jane Austen Emma ii. viii. 181 A sort of bravado—an air of affected unconcern. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Introd., A series of idle bravadoes. 1853 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. xvii. 214 We may do it in bravado or in wantonness. |
† b. to make or give a bravado: to make a display in the face of the enemy, to offer battle. Obs.
| 1600 Holland Livy iii. lx. 128 When they made bravadoes, and challenged them to come forth and fight, not one Romane would answer them again. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. ii. ii. 164 That some foote should bee drawne out of the Campe, to give the Spaniards a brauado. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2361/3 A Party of the Moors making a Bravado. |
c. attrib.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 50 The barbers..haue one maner of cut called the French cut..one of the brauado fashion. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby v. iv. 204 It is a day..of hopes and fears..bravado bets and secret hedging. |
† 2. A swaggering fellow, a hector, a bravo. Obs. [app. after Sp. masculines in -ado already used in Eng., as desperado, renegado, etc. Cf. bravo.]
| 1653 A. Wilson Jas. I 28 Roaring Boys, Bravadoes, Roysters, &c. commit many insolencies. 1668 Pepys Diary 28 Feb., The Hectors & bravadoes of the House. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. II. xxi. 121 But idlers and bravadoes..must beware. 1825 Knapp & Baldw. Newgate Cal. III. 397/2 Webb..was the greatest bravado. |
Hence braˈvadoism. rare.
| 1833 Fraser's Mag. VIII. 527 Was..his apparent strength and defiance, real weakness and bravadoism? |
▪ II. bravado, v.
(brəˈveɪdəʊ, -ˈvɑːdəʊ)
[f. prec. n.]
intr. To show bravado, talk defiantly, put on a bold face. Hence braˈvadoing vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1800 M. Edgeworth Belinda I. iv. 72, I bravadoed to Harriet most magnanimously. 1809–12 ― Almeria Wks. 1832 VII. 283 Notwithstanding her bravadoing air, [she] was frequently perplexed and anxious. 1826 Blackw. Mag. XIX. Pref. 9 There was..much bravadoing and even apparent offers of battle. 1840 T. Hook Fitzherbert III. xvii. 333 They tried to bravado it out. |