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Boast   Listen
verb
Boast  v. t.  
1.
To display in ostentatious language; to speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol. "Lest bad men should boast Their specious deeds."
2.
To display vaingloriously.
3.
To possess or have; as, to boast a name.
To boast one's self, to speak with unbecoming confidence in, and approval of, one's self; followed by of and the thing to which the boasting relates. (Archaic) "Boast not thyself of to-morrow."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Boast" Quotes from Famous Books



... ironical tone in which the fencing was too often conducted served to increase the existing irritation. It was only too evident that the Commission had triumphed, and some of the members could justly boast that they had drowned the deputies in ink and buried ...
— Russia • Donald Mackenzie Wallace

... do not recollect having seen any book bound by this binder. Of Padaloup, De Rome, and Baumgarten, where is the fine collection that does not boast of a few specimens? We will speak "anon" of the Roger Paynes, Kalthoebers, Herrings, Stagemiers, and in ...
— Bibliomania; or Book-Madness - A Bibliographical Romance • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... middle-aged man, whom nobody seemed to know, should be presented to her by the hostess. He wore no shirt-collar,—he had on black gloves,—and was flourishing a red bandanna handkerchief! Match me this, ye proud children of poverty, who boast of your paltry sacrifices for each other! Virtue in humble life! What is that to the glorious self-renunciation of a martyr in pearls and diamonds? As I saw this noble woman bending gracefully before the social mendicant,—the white billows of ...
— The Professor at the Breakfast Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes (Sr.)

... a danger because it is small; don't boast of what your father did; and don't be too conceited to ...
— Queer Stories for Boys and Girls • Edward Eggleston

... though he may not be altogether secure against the objections of the critic, it must however be acknowledged that his works are the productions of a genius truly poetical; and, what many writers who have been more lavishly applauded cannot boast, that they have an original air, which has no resemblance of any foregoing writer, that the versification and sentiments have a cast peculiar to themselves, which no man can imitate with success, because what was nature ...
— Lives of the Poets: Addison, Savage, and Swift • Samuel Johnson

... started for the grounds Will was evidently uncertain over the outcome, in spite of his previous boast of the reception North Platte would give him. "We'll have a big tent and plenty of room to spare ...
— Last of the Great Scouts - The Life Story of William F. Cody ["Buffalo Bill"] • Helen Cody Wetmore

... a fact that the Spanish ladies smoke segars. They say that a young lady will take a few puffs and hand it to her favoured lover as a mark of great kindness. This rumour, however, I cannot verify from personal observation, much less have I to boast of any such favour. But we will talk of these things if we should meet; if not, we will write ...
— Memoirs of Aaron Burr, Complete • Matthew L. Davis

... difficulty. The great King Harry the IVth had ordered the houses in the arena of the Amphitheatre to be thrown down, and this obelisk to be fixed in the center of it; but his death, and Lewis's vanity, fixed it where it now stands; it has no beauty however to boast of but its age and size, for it bears neither polish, characters, nor hieroglyphicks, but, as it seems to have been an Egyptian monument, the inhabitants of Arles have, like those people, consecrated it below to their King, and above to the sun: on the top is fixed a globe of azure, sprinkled ...
— A Year's Journey through France and Part of Spain, Volume II (of 2) • Philip Thicknesse

... Since then my health has decidedly improved. I now usually weigh 145 pounds, and have arisen to 152; rarely below 145. My spirits are better. There is nothing of the faintness, lassitude, and fearful apprehensions before described. My appetite is good and my sleep sound, I have no resolution to boast of, yet considerably more than I ...
— An Essay on the Influence of Tobacco upon Life and Health • R. D. Mussey

... the grand portals upward, is the apogee of French Gothic ornament,—at once the admiration and boast of all France. Here is no mixture or confusion of style, in design or decoration. The pointed arches of window and doorway are of the accepted "best manner," the heavy detail is placed low and rises gracefully to the "Gallery of Kings," a grand succession of stone ...
— The Cathedrals of Northern France • Francis Miltoun

... employed to facilitate the attack, or to conceal the crimes of these factious rioters. No place was safe or sacred from their depredations; to gratify either avarice or revenge, they profusely spilt the blood of the innocent; churches and altars were polluted by atrocious murders; and it was the boast of the assassins, that their dexterity could always inflict a mortal wound with a single stroke of their dagger. The dissolute youth of Constantinople adopted the blue livery of disorder; the laws were silent, and ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 4 • Edward Gibbon

... The Mithraic votary, when their wrathful and tremendous faces break in upon his vision, answers them unterrified: ego eimi symplanos hymin aster, 'I am your fellow wanderer, your fellow Star.' The Orphic carried to the grave on his golden scroll the same boast: first, 'I am the child of Earth and of the starry Heaven'; then later, 'I too am become God'.[148:1] The Gnostic writings consist largely of charms to be uttered by the Soul to each of the Planets ...
— Five Stages of Greek Religion • Gilbert Murray

... this circumstance which gave him an interest beyond any that his companion could boast of, and attracted Barnaby's attention. There was something soldierly in his bearing, and he wore a jaunty cap and jacket. Perhaps he had been in the service at one time or other. If he had, it could not have been very long ago, for he was but ...
— Barnaby Rudge • Charles Dickens

... in cattle and land, but he avowed frankly that he had not saved any money, and probably never would. His hand was always open to every man and he never remembered an obligation. He trusted every one. A proud boast of his was that neither white man nor red man had ever betrayed his trust. His cowboys took advantage of him, his neighbors imposed upon him, but none were there who did not make good their debts of service or stock. ...
— The Mysterious Rider • Zane Grey

... point, to defend this Salvation by Formula. Are these not the very words of Scripture? Did not Christ Himself say, "It is finished?" And is it not written, "By grace are ye saved through faith," "Not of works, lest any man should boast," and "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life?" To which, however, one might also answer in the words of Scripture, "The Devils also believe," and "Except a man be born again he cannot ...
— Natural Law in the Spiritual World • Henry Drummond

... German pamphlet tells the Spaniards that they have seized so many hundred thousand watches, so many hundred thousand rings, so much treasure of diamonds and jewels, so many paintings from rich men's houses, and the long boast ends with the statement that they "obtained nearly five billions of loot out of western Russia and have assessed two billions more upon the farmers, villages ...
— The Blot on the Kaiser's 'Scutcheon • Newell Dwight Hillis

... visitor who is known to have drank from these "rivers of Pactolus" is no less a distinguished person than Sir Wm. Johnson, Bart., who was conducted hither, in 1767, by his Mohawk friends. At that early day America could boast of little in the way of aristocracy, and it was not till 1803 that the career of Saratoga, as a fashionable watering place, was inaugurated. In this year, when the village consisted of only three or four cabins, Gideon Putnam opened ...
— Saratoga and How to See It • R. F. Dearborn

... that Dr. Courtenay should pride himself upon the discovery of a new beauty? And in the Coffee House, and in every drawing-room in town, prophesy for her a career of conquest such as few could boast? She was already launched upon that career. And rumour had it that Mr. Marmaduke was even then considering taking her home to London, where the stage was larger and the triumph greater. Was it surprising that the Gazette should contain a poem with the doctor's well-known ...
— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... morning's lesson—I was then reading La Grammaire des Grammaires—I could think of nothing but the pretty foot-track in the snow. No such foot, I was quite sure, could be seen in the dirty Rue de Seine—not even the shop-girls of the Rue de la Paix, or the tidiest Llorettes could boast of ...
— Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII. No. 3. March 1848 • Various

... but in part from primitive Christianity to Popery. But neither this nor the following boast will bear narrow looking into, ...
— The Literary Remains Of Samuel Taylor Coleridge • Edited By Henry Nelson Coleridge

... "Well, don't boast, for though you can probably swim better than any guide we may see, they'll show you a few things about handling a canoe that you never dreamed of. Father says that the Lake St. John guides are wonders and we'll be only a little farther east, so our guides should be ...
— Bob Hunt in Canada • George W. Orton

... many desired to marry her. But all failed, because none could answer the King's question: "What is enclosed in my amulet?" Undismayed by the failure of men of wealth and rank, Tamba, who lived far in the East and had nothing to boast of, made up his mind to win the princess. His friends laughed at him but he started out on his trip, taking with him some chickens, a goat, rice, rice-straw, millet-seed, and palm-oil. He met in succession a hungry porcupine, an alligator, a horned viper, and some ants, of all of whom he made friends ...
— Primitive Love and Love-Stories • Henry Theophilus Finck

... experience, the folly of trusting even to the greatest human power or prudence, without an affiance in the Lord of Heaven. The world, O Misnar, is Allah's, and the kingdom of heaven is the work of His hands; let not, therefore, the proudest boast, nor the most humble despair; for, although the towering mountains appear most glorious to the sight, the lowly valleys enjoy the fatness of the skies. But Allah is able to clothe the summit of the rocks with verdure, and dry up even the rivers ...
— Eastern Tales by Many Story Tellers • Various

... mean roadway where three vehicles could scarcely pass abreast, and which serried shops lined with gaudy displays? There was neither space, nor far horizon, nor refreshing greenery such as the fashionable drives of Paris could boast! Nothing but jostling, crowding, and stifling on the little footways under the narrow strip of sky. And although Dario named the pompous and historical palaces, Bonaparte, Doria, Odescalchi, Sciarra, ...
— The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete - Lourdes, Rome and Paris • Emile Zola

... There are few departments of human distinction in which Great Britain cannot boast a 'celebrity'—genteel or ungenteel. In the matter of gambling we have been unapproachable—not only in the 'thorough' determination with which we have exhausted the pursuit—but in the vast, the fabulous millions ...
— The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims - Volume II (of II) • Andrew Steinmetz

... most informal of life-schools were such as Henri Murger, who was alive and writing at the time, might have approved, but were hardly to be called educative in any higher sense. The only master that these Bohemians could boast was a very invertebrate old artist, who seems to have been the soul of politeness and irresponsibility, and who accompanied every weak criticism with the deprecatory ...
— Frederic Lord Leighton - An Illustrated Record of His Life and Work • Ernest Rhys

... would coffee boast an equal good, The crystal stream transcends the flowing mud, Tea, even the ills from coffee spring repairs, Disclaims its vices and ...
— The Little Tea Book • Arthur Gray

... First this temporary severance was already passing away. The birth of children to Lewis the Fifteenth settled all questions of succession; and no obstacle remained to hinder their family sympathies from uniting the Bourbon Courts in a common action. The boast of Lewis the Fourteenth was at last fulfilled. In the mighty struggle for supremacy which France carried on from the fall of Walpole to the Peace of Paris her strength was doubled by the fact that there ...
— History of the English People, Volume VII (of 8) - The Revolution, 1683-1760; Modern England, 1760-1767 • John Richard Green

... them, both negative, are ominous; the third is positive and plain. There is no reference to the financial condition of France, or to the ecclesiastical situation. Russia was openly threatened. The boast of wealth referred to Napoleon's own "extraordinary domain." About this time Metternich reported to his government that France was the richest country in Europe, but that her treasury was empty. The budget of 1811 had nine hundred millions on ...
— The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte - Vol. III. (of IV.) • William Milligan Sloane

... the papacy in 715 upon the death of Constantine. He was a man of great strength of purpose and nobility of character. Upon the Lombard throne sat Liutprand whose boast it was that "his nation was Catholic and beloved of God," and who acknowledged the pope as "the head of all the churches and priests of God through the world." These three men were the great protagonists who decided the fate of the ...
— Ravenna, A Study • Edward Hutton

... and up a drive. He was at home again. His house had been enlarged and re-decorated since he was last there. It looked solidly prosperous. Its second floor shouted 'money' in a country where most houses could boast no first floor. Its critics might have called its colors harrowing and its architecture the reverse of inspired, but Julian cared not a jot for that sort of up-in-the-air criticism. He sat down to breakfast with a thankful heart, and made himself ...
— Cinderella in the South - Twenty-Five South African Tales • Arthur Shearly Cripps

... their levees, with vice-regal pomp, surrounded by the military men, the councillors, the judges, and other officers of the crown, while all the loyalty of the province thronged to do them honor. But the room, in its present condition, cannot boast even of faded magnificence. The panelled wainscot is covered with dingy paint, and acquires a duskier hue from the deep shadow into which the Province House is thrown by the brick block that shuts it in from Washington Street. A ray of ...
— The Short-story • William Patterson Atkinson

... hall, a few moments since, I said, 'Well, dear, which won the victory, sin or my little girl?' She put her hands on my shoulders, laughed bitterly, and answered, 'It was a drawn battle. Neither has much to boast of, and we lie on our arms watching—nay, glaring at each other. Let me be quiet a little while, and don't ...
— Vashti - or, Until Death Us Do Part • Augusta J. Evans Wilson

... the stranger, now shrouded and coffined, rested upon a bier in the centre of the room. At its head sat the minister of the one church of which the town could boast. ...
— Stories by American Authors, Volume 10 • Various

... prouder still of conquests over his own passions. He looked upon FATE as the arch enemy against whose attacks we should ever prepare. He fancied that against fate he had thoroughly schooled himself. In the arrogance of his heart he said, "I can defy the future." He believed in the boast of the vain old sage,—"I am a world to myself!" In the wild career through which his later manhood had passed, it is true that he had not carried his philosophy into a rejection of the ordinary world. The shock occasioned by the death of Florence yielded gradually to time and change; ...
— Alice, or The Mysteries, Book II • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... no longer boast of being the art center of Italy, it still produced great artists, among whom Andrea del Sarto may be especially mentioned.[241] But the most important center of artistic activity outside of Rome in the sixteenth century ...
— An Introduction to the History of Western Europe • James Harvey Robinson

... not believe all that, Mary; no doubt the principal streets have been mined, but the Commune have made such a boast of the fact, that you may be sure the French generals will avoid the great thoroughfares as much as possible, and will turn the barricades by advancing along the narrow streets and lanes; besides, ...
— A Girl of the Commune • George Alfred Henty

... Albuera! glorious field of grief![cc][67] As o'er thy plain the Pilgrim pricked his steed, Who could foresee thee, in a space so brief, A scene where mingling foes should boast and bleed![cd] Peace to the perished! may the warrior's meed[ce] And tears of triumph their reward prolong![cf] Till others fall where other chieftains lead Thy name shall circle round the gaping throng, And shine in worthless lays, the ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 2 • George Gordon Byron

... man was he whom ye boast of?" cried Celtchar of Ulster. "I myself slew that horny-skinned son of Dedad, I cut the ...
— Heroic Romances of Ireland Volumes 1 and 2 Combined • A. H. Leahy

... boast of the ancient Romans that all roads led to their city. Rome was the centre and mistress of the world; and as the loneliest rill that rises in the bosom of the far-off mountain leads, if followed, to the ocean, so every path in the remotest corner of the vast empire conducted ...
— Roman Mosaics - Or, Studies in Rome and Its Neighbourhood • Hugh Macmillan

... writing a piece of poetry reflecting upon the character of some great man. Note, that he was not incarcerated for writing bad poetry, but for libelling some one by his verse, though he might have been very properly punished for writing such stuff as he called poetry. It is nothing to boast of, that his descendant, Uncle Benjamin, was not sent to prison for producing "two quarto volumes of his own poetry," as the reader would believe ...
— From Boyhood to Manhood • William M. Thayer

... straines Whilst English blood yet runs within my veins, O brave Achilles, I wish some Homer would Engrave in Marble, with Characters of gold The valiant feats thou didst on Flanders coast, Which at this day fair Belgia may boast. The more I say, the more thy worth I stain, Thy fame and praise is far beyond my strain, O Zutphen, Zutphen that most fatal City Made famous by thy death, much more the pity: Ah! in his blooming prime death pluckt this rose E're he was ripe, his ...
— Anne Bradstreet and Her Time • Helen Campbell

... by his palace that his merit and his fortune had given him richly of all that could be desired—and this a few years before his expulsion. The ancients, when they spoke in this tone, had nevertheless a sense of the envy of the gods. In Italy it was probably the Condottieri who first ventured to boast so loudly of their fortune. But the way in which resuscitated antiquity affected religion most powerfully, was not through any doctrines or philosophical system, but through a general tendency which it fostered. ...
— The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy • Jacob Burckhardt

... if they had been riddled with bullets; and where ropes had broken in the rigging, they had been tied in clumsy knots, instead of being spliced in proper sailor-like fashion. There was not much to boast of in the way of navigation either; the captain keeping his log by the simple method of spitting over the side, or throwing a chip of wood overboard, and making his calculations according to the pace it drifted past. The food, too, was on a par with all the rest, and the cook ...
— The Pilot and his Wife • Jonas Lie

... as tough as oak, nay tougher; Look at him ye who wish to see the Antipodes to "duffer." Swift as the Hawk in airy flight, strong as the guardsman SHAW, We men of mortal muscles must contemplate him with awe. Though I dwell by Cam's slow river, and I hope am not a bigot, I think that Isis cannot boast a better man than PIGOTT: Active, and strong, and steady, and never known to shirk, Of Corpus the quintessence, he is always fit for work. The men of Thames will be amazed when they see our "Three" so strong, ...
— Sagittulae, Random Verses • E. W. Bowling

... the dining-room, the fascinating creature who sat next to him held her fan before her face, and so made a private interview of it between the rich Englishman and herself. With regard to the dinner, I shall only report that it justified Captain Peterkin's boast, in some degree at least. The wine was good, and the conversation became gay to the verge of indelicacy. Usually the most temperate of men, Romayne was tempted by his neighbors into drinking freely. I was unfortunately seated at the opposite extremity ...
— The Black Robe • Wilkie Collins

... a night in greater uneasiness.-So lately to have cleared myself in the good opinion of Lord Orville,-so soon to forfeit it!-to give him reason to suppose I presumed to boast of his acquaintance!-to publish his having danced with me!-to take with him a liberty I should have blushed to have taken with the most intimate of my friends!-to treat with such impertinent freedom, one who has honoured ...
— Evelina • Fanny Burney

... that we can love beings we have never seen. I doubt not that every American loves Washington. His name is dear to us all. His character and life are our boast and admiration. Not more should we love him if we had seen him and known him well. It is his character that we have and not his person. His character is as clear and glorious to us as it was to his compeers. ...
— Aims and Aids for Girls and Young Women • George Sumner Weaver

... men, and was thrown into the sea and drowned: though not until he had taken from his breast his gold chain and gold whistle, which were the signs of his office, and had cast them into the sea to prevent their being made a boast of by the enemy. After this defeat—which was a great one, for Sir Edward Howard was a man of valour and fame—the King took it into his head to invade France in person; first executing that dangerous Earl of Suffolk whom his father had left ...
— A Child's History of England • Charles Dickens

... would give our sister to a peasant's son. She is for a proud Northland chieftain, not for such as you, though all men may boast of your wondrous deeds." ...
— Told by the Northmen: - Stories from the Eddas and Sagas • E. M. [Ethel Mary] Wilmot-Buxton

... Thou boast'st thyself in God, thy tongue doth aye commend The blessing God doth as His children's portion send: "If this be then the case," the world says, "come and show it, The happy fortune thou hast had, ...
— Paul Gerhardt's Spiritual Songs - Translated by John Kelly • Paul Gerhardt

... contains an encampment, in which twelve or fifteen large tents are formed in like manner. Along the sides are grouped old Austrian banners, standards taken from the French, and horsetails and flags captured from the Turks. "They make a great boast," said the Pole, "of a half dozen French colors, but let them go to the Hospital des Invalides, in Paris, and they will find hundreds of the best banners of Austria!" They also exhibited the armor of a dwarf king of Bohemia and ...
— Views a-foot • J. Bayard Taylor

... was professor "in the first theological seminary of which New York could boast." It was ...
— The Kirk on Rutgers Farm • Frederick Bruckbauer

... him, "used to hold tribal dances and make medicine and boast about how many scalps they'd taken and how they did it. It was satisfying—and educational for the young. Adolescents became familiar with the idea of what we nowadays call adventure. They were partly ready for it when it came. I suspect ...
— Sand Doom • William Fitzgerald Jenkins

... rowing galleys, like those of other old-fashioned fleets; and its sailing men-of-war were nothing much to boast of in the way of handiness or even safety. The Mary Rose, which Henry's admiral, Sir Edward Howard, had described thirty years before as "the flower of all the ships that ever sailed," was built with lower portholes only sixteen inches above the water line. So when her crew forgot to close these ...
— Flag and Fleet - How the British Navy Won the Freedom of the Seas • William Wood

... has led me to observe carefully whatever I met with in my path in life; and I may say, without hesitation, that I have endeavored, according to my ability, to fill the position to which I have been called. This is no vain boast, but only the justifiable assertion of a good conscience; and this no man needs to withhold. For these reasons, I have been unwilling to refrain from giving to the world a true expression of my opinions and feelings. I trust they will ...
— Piano and Song - How to Teach, How to Learn, and How to Form a Judgment of - Musical Performances • Friedrich Wieck

... and exact justice of which we boast as the underlying principle of our institutions should not be confined to the relations of our citizens to each other. The Government itself is under bond to the American people that in the exercise of its functions and powers it will deal with the body of ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 3 (of 3) of Volume 8: Grover Cleveland, First Term. • Grover Cleveland

... unmelodious was the song, It was a hearty note, and strong; Who lists may in their murmuring see Traces of ancient mystery; White shirts supplied the masquerade, And smutted cheeks the visors made; But O, what maskers richly dight, Can boast of bosoms half so light! England was "merry England" when Old Christmas brought his sports again; 'Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale, 'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale; A Christmas gambol oft would cheer The poor ...
— Christmas - Its Origin, Celebration and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse • Various

... are Quakers and other religious sects; there are ministers of the gospel—persons having conscientious scruples; indeed, all men over a certain age who under the laws of many of the States are released from service of that character. Indeed, it is the boast of the republic that ours is a volunteer military establishment. Hence I say there is nothing in the position that because she may not be physically qualified for service in your army, therefore you have the right to deny her ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage

... pre-eminent art of China, which can boast of a succession of great painters for at least twelve centuries. Though the Chinese have an instinctive gift for harmonious colour, their painting is above all an art of line. It is intimately connected with writing, itself a fine art demanding the same skill and supple ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 2 - "Chicago, University of" to "Chiton" • Various

... if I dared the presumption, I should say that I caught a glimpse of heavenly pity. I wept, not so much from my own suffering as from sorrow that such things should be in our own country, where Justice and Freedom and Liberty of Conscience have been the annual boast of Fourth-of-July orators so many years. It seemed that our forefathers in the faith had wrought and suffered in vain, when the privileges they so dearly bought were so soon set aside. And I was sad, that one endeavouring to follow our dear ...
— The Record of a Quaker Conscience, Cyrus Pringle's Diary - With an Introduction by Rufus M. Jones • Cyrus Pringle

... watching. What eager rushing when the turn comes! what swarming and squeezing and clinging! Two women fall into the sea, and are pulled out by blue-jackets, and say they are not sorry to have fallen in, because they can now boast of owing their lives to the men of the Matsushima Kan! As a matter of fact, they could not very well have been drowned; there were legions of common boatmen to ...
— Kokoro - Japanese Inner Life Hints • Lafcadio Hearn

... it himself and claimed it for his son, then for his grandson, Philip. Not until 1700, after a reign of nearly forty years, did Charles give up the worthless game and expire. He declared Philip his heir, and the aged Louis sent the youth to Spain with an eager boast, "Go; there are no longer any Pyrenees." That is, France and Spain were to be one, a mighty ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 12 • Editor-In-Chief Rossiter Johnson

... session of Congress. But, if there is any cause for national exultation in being not merely first in the invention as to time, but best too, as decided by a foreign tribunal, ought the inventor to be suffered to work with his hands tied? Is it honorable to the nation to boast of its inventors, to contend for the credit of their inventions as national property, and not lift a finger to assist them to perfect that of which ...
— Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - In Two Volumes, Volume II • Samuel F. B. Morse

... poor, miserably so; but on certain occasions, at our festivals, when our gates are barred, and our savage dogs are let loose in the court, we eat our food off services such as the Queen of Spain cannot boast of, and wash our feet in ewers of silver, fashioned and wrought before the Americas were discovered, though our garments are at all times coarse, and our food for the most part ...
— The Bible in Spain • George Borrow

... and blacker than jet. She did not scream or waver. Most unwomanly, she cried out one oath—the Kid's own favorite oath—and in his own deep voice; and then while the Small Hours Social Club went frantically to pieces, she made good her boast to Tommy, the waiter—made good as far as the length of her knife blade and the ...
— The Trimmed Lamp and Others • O Henry

... we cannot boast of our guineas? We have plenty of Jockies and Jeanies; And these, I 'm certain, are More desirable by far Than a bag full of poor yellow steinies; And these, I ...
— The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I. - The Songs of Scotland of the past half century • Various

... completely deceived by the apparently honest character of these observations. He could not resist the temptation to boast a little, that peculiar ...
— A Black Adonis • Linn Boyd Porter

... carry his point by impressing the Liberator with the idea of his peculiar honesty and respectability. He was anxious that O'Connell should decide a matter in dispute between him and a neighboring farmer who, he wished to insinuate, was not as good as he ought to be. "For my part, I, at least, can boast that neither I nor mine were ever brought before a judge or sent to jail, however it was ...
— Irish Wit and Humor - Anecdote Biography of Swift, Curran, O'Leary and O'Connell • Anonymous

... strength to some more than to others, was it to boast of their ability to abide the stroke, and upbraid those that had not the same gift and support, or ought they not rather to have been humble and thankful if they were rendered more useful than ...
— History of the Plague in London • Daniel Defoe

... tree though it be fair to be seen, yet the syrup depriveth sight—that friendship though it be plighted by the shaking of the hand, yet it is shaken by the fraud of the heart. But thou hast not much to boast of, for as thou hast won a fickle lady, so hast thou lost a faithful friend[19]." It is impossible to give an adequate idea of the euphuistic style save in a lengthy quotation, such as the discourse of Eubulus selected by Mr ...
— John Lyly • John Dover Wilson

... SELECTA—in which I think your sire had his share with the undaunted western regiment, does not seem to have improved his taste for the company of the Highlanders; (quaere, Alan, dost thou derive the courage thou makest such boast of from an hereditary source?) and stories of Rob Roy Macgregor, and Sergeant Alan Mhor Cameron, have served to paint them in still more sable colours to his imagination. [Of Rob Roy we have had more than enough. Alan Cameron, commonly called ...
— Redgauntlet • Sir Walter Scott

... Mrs. Graystone, who could boast of the most aristocratic descent, and whose haughty family had considered it quite a condescension when she married the self-made merchant—if the little lady had sinned very deeply in wishing to secure for her only child a husband in every way suitable, in ...
— Clemence - The Schoolmistress of Waveland • Retta Babcock

... The silver-pewter streak of channel kept her safe from invasion by any continental power, yet she could land troops across the Channel and throw the weight of her forces in the balance when her dominion was threatened. It is her boast that she has always won the "last battle," which is sufficient. She had only 30,000 troops in the allied army under Wellington, which delivered the finishing ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) - Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers • Various

... given, To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving; Souls here, like planets in Heaven, By harmony's laws alone are kept moving. Beauty may boast of her eyes and her cheeks, But Love from the lips his true archery wings; And she, who but feathers the dart when she speaks, At once sends it home to the heart when she sings. Then sing—sing—Music was given, To brighten the gay, and kindle the ...
— The Complete Poems of Sir Thomas Moore • Thomas Moore et al

... mathematics put into rhythm which makes a great part of the poem absolutely unreadable. In spite of these incredible defects, before which every man of mediocre talent must inevitably have succumbed, this poet might justly boast of having carried off from the poetic wilderness a new chaplet such as the Muses had not yet bestowed on any; and it was by no means merely the occasional similitudes, and the other inserted descriptions of mighty natural phenomena and yet ...
— The History of Rome (Volumes 1-5) • Theodor Mommsen

... don't you? I offered to come. We are great friends, she and I. But—I wanted to come for myself too. Ian is so terribly obstinate. He made up his mind that you needed his help, and that he'd stand by you whatever happened. It is his boast that he's never broken his word, nor failed any one. Even his love for me wouldn't make him give up—and he won't give you up while he thinks you are alone and needing a friend. See what he has done for you! He has ...
— The Heather-Moon • C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson

... side, and that in everything we were so much better off than our fathers, that comparison was impossible. Since then there have been many revolutions of opinion, and we think it is now the general conclusion of wise men, that one period has little to boast itself of against another, that one form of civilisation replaces another without improving upon it, at least to the extent which appears on the surface. But yet the general prevalence of peace, interrupted only by occasional wars, even when we recognise a certain large and terrible utility in war ...
— Jeanne d'Arc - Her Life And Death • Mrs.(Margaret) Oliphant

... me his word that he would be silent, and I left him in peace. As usual I passed the evening at the Commandant's, forcing myself to be calm and gay, in order not to awaken suspicions and to avoid questioning. I confess that I had not the coolness of which people boast who have been in a similar position. I was disposed to tenderness. Marie Mironoff seemed more attractive than ever. The idea that perhaps I saw her for the last time, gave her ...
— Marie • Alexander Pushkin

... Rancocus appeared like those of a palace. They were not inelegant even, though it was not usual, in that period of the republic, to fit up vessels with a magnificence little short of royal yachts, as is done at present. In the way of convenience, however, our ship could boast of a great deal. Her cabins were on deck, or under a poop, and consequently enjoyed every advantage of light and air. Beneath were store-rooms, still well supplied with many articles of luxury, though time was beginning to make its usual inroads on their ...
— The Crater • James Fenimore Cooper

... immortal mind is, according to you, an ignoble viscus; the god-like gift of reason is the instinct of a dog somewhat highly developed. Still you left us something to hope. Still you allowed us one boast. Still life was a thread connecting us with the Giver of Life. But now, with an impious hand, in blasphemous rage ye have rent asunder that last frail tie." And ...
— Vikram and the Vampire • Sir Richard F. Burton

... scientific character is to show deductively their common dependence upon various combinations of the same causes. Yet even those who profess to employ the Historical Method often omit the deductive half of it; and of course 'practical politicians' boast of their entire contentment with what ...
— Logic - Deductive and Inductive • Carveth Read

... I mean? What a pity! But I think you do. I think you must. Look here. I am the Boy at what is called The Refreshment Room at Mugby Junction, and what's proudest boast is, that it never yet ...
— Mugby Junction • Charles Dickens

... humbler walks of literature Iowa can boast quite a number of women who have made successful attempts at authorship.[415] In sculpture Mrs. Harriet A. Ketcham, of Mt. Pleasant, deserves mention. She has the exclusive contract to model the prominent men of Iowa for the new capitol. Mrs. Estelle E. Vore, Mrs. Cora R. Fracker, ...
— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various

... the Hare, "have you? Well, if I were you, I shouldn't boast about it just now. You see, we are still outside of those Gates. Who knows but that you will find every one of the living things you have amused yourself by slaughtering waiting for you within them, each praying for justice to ...
— The Mahatma and the Hare • H. Rider Haggard

... not joking, 'pon me honor. The cook, name of Eliza, does really exist, and is sworn to surprise even your jaded appetite. The artist is John Trenholme. In years to come you'll boast of having met him before ...
— The Strange Case of Mortimer Fenley • Louis Tracy

... his presence and personality had been ever powerful as a stimulus to the hearts of the people; none knew his personal power better than the members of his own flock, unless indeed it were the wolves who were ever seeking to harry the fold. It had been the boast of anti-"Mormons" that with Joseph Smith removed, the Church would crumble to pieces of itself. In the personality of their leader, it was thought, lay the secret of the people's strength; and like the Philistines, the enemy struck at the supposed ...
— The Story of "Mormonism" • James E. Talmage

... and Apollos on your account, that you may learn by us not to [go beyond] what is written, that you may not be puffed up for one against another. [4:7]For who made you to differ? And what have you that you did not receive? And if you received, why do you boast as one that receives not? [4:8]You are already full, you are already enriched; you have reigned without us; and I would that you did reign, that we also might reign with you. [4:9]For I think that God has shown ...
— The New Testament • Various

... music, all of which she had mastered, and amid manuscript books which she had written, some one said to her: "How do you find time to attend to all these things?" "Oh," she replied, "these are not the things I am proud of. My chief boast is in the fact that I have seventeen trades, by any one of which I could make a livelihood if necessary." And if in secular spheres there is so much to be done, in spiritual work how vast the field! How many dying all around about us without one word of comfort! We want more Abigails, ...
— New Tabernacle Sermons • Thomas De Witt Talmage

... his mediums, were materialistic spirits who did not speak through his mediums from the miserable condition of their inner life but from the surface of their outward condition as they while in their mortal bodies were accustomed to boast, and to cheat and delude their fellow men. In the treatise which would have occupied this place, if I had net been moved to prepare this for the celebration of the 4th of July, 1859, and its octava, that ...
— Secret Enemies of True Republicanism • Andrew B. Smolnikar

... for want of determination, fall, helpless, by the wayside in the journey of life. They flaunt their rags and tatters in the eyes of the world, and with saddened hearts and empty stomachs utter the boast, 'I am an honest man.' Do you think that, in order to be rich, you must perforce be a rogue? This ...
— Caught In The Net • Emile Gaboriau

... Yankees were too gallant to make war on women and children," chimed in Mary. "That has always been their boast," continued ...
— Frank on a Gun-Boat • Harry Castlemon

... husband, a circumstance that might have led her to recognize him as her son. Thus a close analysis of the piece will evince the utmost propriety and significance of every portion of it. As, however, it is customary to extol the correctness of Sophocles, and to boast more especially of the strict observance of probability which, prevails throughout this Oedipus, I must here remark that this very piece is a proof how, on this subject, the ancient artists followed very different principles ...
— Lectures on Dramatic Art - and Literature • August Wilhelm Schlegel trans John Black

... third moon since your conquering host Was to have laid our weakling army low, And walked through France at will. For that loud boast What have you got ...
— Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, October 21, 1914 • Various

... Whittington," said he, decidedly, "we can't do business that way. We're not running any reform school and we're not asking anybody to give us a cent. We're going out there to earn money for our first year in college, and we're going to take it out of the sea, every last copper! I don't say it to boast, but since I was ten I've had to shift for myself. I know where every cent in my pocket and every ounce of muscle on my body has come from. If Percy should go with us he'd have to take his medicine with the rest of us and pay his own way by working. Give us a little time alone to talk the ...
— Jim Spurling, Fisherman - or Making Good • Albert Walter Tolman

... world?—So, fare thee well.— Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies A lass unparallel'd.—Downy windows, close; And golden Phoebus never be beheld Of eyes again so royal! Your crown's awry; I'll mend ...
— Antony and Cleopatra • William Shakespeare [Collins edition]

... wear a white suit of clothes without a blemish for three days. If you need any further instruction in the matter of clothes I shall be glad to give it to you. I hope I have convinced some of you that it is just as well to wear white clothes as any other kind. I do not want to boast. I only want to make you understand that ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... in Scripture that seems to bear out the boast that the kingdoms are at Satan's disposal. But he is 'the father of lies' as well as the 'prince of this world,' and we may be very sure that his authority loses nothing in his telling. If we think how many thrones have been built on violence ...
— Expositions Of Holy Scripture - Volume I: St. Luke, Chaps. I to XII • Alexander Maclaren

... bright side of the picture which a favored traveller would have seen at the close of the Napoleonic wars,—on the whole, one of external prosperity and grandeur, compared with most Continental countries; an envied civilization, the boast of liberty, for there was no regal despotism. The monarch could send no one to jail, or exile him, or cut off his head, except in accordance with law; and the laws could deprive no one of personal liberty without sufficient ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume IX • John Lord

... I to pledge those bygone days Oh this would be my toast: "Here's to the dear old Stars and Stripes, Our country's pride and boast; Here's to the Union Volunteers, Who did the flag defend, And here's to my old comrades Who ...
— The Twenty-fifth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion • George P. Bissell



Words linked to "Boast" :   overdraw, self-praise, braggadocio, vaporing, sport, gloat, bragging, crowing, triumph, bluster, self-assertion, crow, boasting, hyperbolise, magnify, overstate, vaunt, jactitation, rhodomontade, swash, boaster, amplify, gas, tout, speech act, shoot a line



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