brag

Etymology

From Middle English braggen (“to make a loud noise; to speak boastfully”) of uncertain origin. Possibly related to the Middle English adjective brag (“prideful; spirited”), which is probably of Celtic origin;^[1] or from Old Norse bragr (“best; foremost; poetry”);^[2] or through Old English from Old Norse braka (“to creak”).^[3]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹæɡ/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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• Hyphenation: brag
• Rhymes: -æɡ

Noun

brag (plural brags)

1. A boast or boasting; bragging; ostentatious pretence or self-glorification.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     Caesar […] made not here his brag / Of "came", and "saw", and "overcame".

2. The thing which is boasted of.
   • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:

     Beauty is Nature's brag.

   • 2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better‎, Plum, →ISBN, page 192:

     You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.

3. (by ellipsis) The card game three card brag.
   • January 23 1752, Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, in Letters to His Son, published in 1774

     our mixed companies here, which, if they happen to rise above bragg and whist, infallibly stop short of every thing either pleasing or instructive

Verb

brag (third-person singular simple present brags, present participle bragging, simple past and past participle bragged)

1. (intransitive, often with of) To boast; to talk with excessive pride about what one has, is able to do, or has done; often as an attempt to popularize oneself.

   Synonyms: boast, beat one's chest

   Hyponym: brag on

   to brag of one’s exploits, courage, or money

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]:

     Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, / Brags of his substance, not of ornament. / Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade

Adjective

brag (comparative bragger, superlative braggest)

1. Excellent; first-rate.
2. (archaic) Brisk; full of spirits; boasting; pretentious; conceited.
   • 1633 (first performance), Ben Jonson, “A Tale of a Tub. A Comedy […]”, in The Works of Beniamin Jonson, […] (Third Folio), London: […] Thomas Hodgkin, for H[enry] Herringman, E. Brewster, T. Bassett, R[ichard] Chiswell, M. Wotton, G. Conyers, published 1692, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     a woundy, brag young fellow

Adverb

brag (comparative more brag, superlative most brag)

1. (obsolete) Proudly; boastfully.
   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Februarie. Ægloga Secunda.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC:

     Seest how brag yond bullock beare […] his pricked eares?

References

Anagrams

• ARGB, garb, grab

Etymology

From Old Norse brak, related to braka (“to break, crack”).

Noun

brag n (singular definite braget, plural indefinite brag)

1. bang, crash

Verb

brag

1. imperative of brage

Alternative forms

• Bröch (Sylt)

Etymology

From Old Frisian bregge, from Proto-West Germanic *bruggju. Cognates include West Frisian brêge.

Noun

brag f (plural bragen)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) bridge

Etymology

From Middle Welsh brac, from Proto-Brythonic *brag, from Proto-Celtic *mrakis. Cognate with Irish braich.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /braːɡ/

Noun

brag m (plural bragau)

1. malt (sprouted grain used in brewing)

Mutation

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “brag”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies