Boast Definition
A brag, a loud positive appraisal of oneself.
(squash (sport)) A shot where the ball is driven off a side wall and then strikes the front wall.
Origin of Boast
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From Middle English boosten, bosten, from bost (“boast, glory, noise, arrogance, presumption, pride, vanity”), probably of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bausuz (“inflated, swollen, puffed up, proud, arrogant, bad”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bew- (“to blow, inflate, swell”). Cognate with Scots bost, boist (“to threaten, brag, boast”), Anglo-Norman bost ("ostentation"; < Germanic). Related to Norwegian baus (“proud, bold, daring”), German dialectal baustern (“to swell”), German böse (“evil, bad, angry”), Dutch boos (“evil, wicked, angry”), West Frisian boas (“bad, wicked, angry, shrewd, clever”). Compare also Norwegian dialectal bausta, busta (“to rush onward, make a noise”).
From Wiktionary
Middle English bosten from bost a brag
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Origin unknown
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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