Boast Boast intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Boasted ; present participle & verbal noun Boasting .] [ Middle English bosten , boosten , v., bost , boost , noun , noise, boasting; confer German bausen , bauschen , to swell, pusten , Danish puste , Swedish pusta , to blow, Swedish pösa to swell; or W. bostio to boast, bost boast, Gael. bosd . But these last may be from English.] 1. To vaunt one's self; to brag; to say or tell things which are intended to give others a high opinion of one's self or of things belonging to one's self; as, to boast of one's exploits courage, descent, wealth.

By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: . . not of works, lest any man should boast .
Eph. ii. 8, 9.

2. To speak in exulting language of another; to glory; to exult.

In God we boast all the day long.
Ps. xliv. 8

Syn. -- To brag; bluster; vapor; crow; talk big.

Boast Boast transitive verb 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.
Milton.

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.
Prov. xxvii. 1

Boast Boast transitive verb [ Of uncertain etymology.] 1. (Masonry) To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel. Weale. 2. (Sculp.) To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required.

Boast Boast noun 1. Act of boasting; vaunting or bragging.

Reason and morals? and where live they most,
In Christian comfort, or in Stoic boast !
Byron.

2. The cause of boasting; occasion of pride or exultation, -- sometimes of laudable pride or exultation.

The boast of historians.
Macaulay.

Boastance Boast"ance noun Boasting. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Boaster Boast"er noun One who boasts; a braggart.

Boaster Boast"er noun A stone mason's broad-faced chisel.

Boastful Boast"ful adjective Given to, or full of, boasting; inclined to boast; vaunting; vainglorious; self- praising. -- Boast"ful*ly , adverb -- Boast"ful*ness , noun

Boasting Boast"ing noun The act of glorying or vaunting; vainglorious speaking; ostentatious display.

When boasting ends, then dignity begins.
Young.

Boastingly Boast"ing·ly adverb Boastfully; with boasting. "He boastingly tells you." Burke.

Boastive Boast"ive adjective Presumptuous. [ R.]

Boastless Boast"less adjective Without boasting or ostentation.

Boat Boat noun [ Middle English boot , bat , Anglo-Saxon bāt ; akin to Icelandic bātr , Swedish båt , Danish baad , D. & German boot . Confer Bateau .] 1. A small open vessel, or water craft, usually moved by cars or paddles, but often by a sail. » Different kinds of boats have different names; as, canoe , yawl , wherry , pinnace , punt , etc. 2. Hence, any vessel; usually with some epithet descriptive of its use or mode of propulsion; as, pilot boat , packet boat , passage boat , advice boat , etc. The term is sometimes applied to steam vessels, even of the largest class; as, the Cunard boats . 3. A vehicle, utensil, or dish, somewhat resembling a boat in shape; as, a stone boat ; a gravy boat . » Boat is much used either adjectively or in combination; as, boat builder or boat builder; boat building or boat building; boat hook or boat hook; boat house; boat keeper or boat keeper; boat load; boat race; boat racing; boat rowing; boat song; boat like; boat -shaped. Advice boat . See under Advice . -- Boat hook (Nautical) , an iron hook with a point on the back, fixed to a long pole, to pull or push a boat, raft, log, etc. Totten. -- Boat rope , a rope for fastening a boat; -- usually called a painter . -- In the same boat , in the same situation or predicament. [ Colloq.] F. W. Newman.

Boat Boat (bōt) transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Boated ; present participle & verbal noun Boating .] 1. To transport in a boat; as, to boat goods. 2. To place in a boat; as, to boat oars. To boat the oars . See under Oar .

Boat Boat intransitive verb To go or row in a boat.

I boated over, ran my craft aground.
Tennyson.

Boat bug Boat" bug` (Zoology) An aquatic hemipterous insect of the genus Notonecta ; -- so called from swimming on its back, which gives it the appearance of a little boat. Called also boat fly , boat insect , boatman , and water boatman .

Boat shell Boat" shell` (Zoology) (a) A marine gastropod of the genus Crepidula . The species are numerous. It is so named from its form and interior deck. (b) A marine univalve shell of the genus Cymba .

Boat-shaped Boat"-shaped` adjective (Botany) See Cymbiform .

Boat-tail Boat"-tail` noun (Zoology) A large grackle or blackbird ( Quiscalus major ), found in the Southern United States.

Boatable Boat"a·ble adjective 1. Such as can be transported in a boat. 2. Navigable for boats, or small river craft.

The boatable waters of the Alleghany.
J. Morse.

Boatage Boat"age noun Conveyance by boat; also, a charge for such conveyance.

Boatbill Boat"bill` noun (Zoology) 1. A wading bird ( Cancroma cochlearia ) of the tropical parts of South America. Its bill is somewhat like a boat with the keel uppermost. 2. A perching bird of India, of the genus Eurylaimus .

Boatful Boat"ful noun ; plural Boatfuls . The quantity or amount that fills a boat.

Boathouse Boat"house` noun A house for sheltering boats.

Half the latticed boathouse hides.
Wordsworth.

Boating Boat"ing noun 1. The act or practice of rowing or sailing, esp. as an amusement; carriage in boats. 2. In Persia, a punishment of capital offenders, by laying them on the back in a covered boat, where they are left to perish.

Boation Bo·a"tion noun [ Latin boatus , from boare to roar.] A crying out; a roaring; a bellowing; reverberation. [ Obsolete]

The guns were heard . . . about a hundred Italian miles, in long boations .
Derham.

Boatman Boat"man noun ; plural Boatmen 1. A man who manages a boat; a rower of a boat.

As late the boatman hies him home.
Percival.

2. (Zoology) A boat bug. See Boat bug .

Boatmanship Boat"man·ship noun The art of managing a boat.

Boatsman Boats"man noun A boatman. [ Archaic]

Boatswain Boat"swain noun [ Boat + swain .] 1. (Nautical) An officer who has charge of the boats, sails, rigging, colors, anchors, cables, cordage, etc., of a ship, and who also summons the crew, and performs other duties. 2. (Zoology) (a) The jager gull. (b) The tropic bird. Boatswain's mate , an assistant of the boatswain. Totten.

Boatwoman Boat"wom`an noun ; plural Boatwomen A woman who manages a boat.

Bob Bob noun [ An onomatopoetic word, expressing quick, jerky motion; Middle English bob bunch, bobben to strike, mock, deceive. Confer Prov. Eng. bob , noun , a ball, an engine beam, bunch, blast, trick, taunt, scoff; as, a v., to dance, to courtesy, to disappoint, Old French bober to mock.] 1. Anything that hangs so as to play loosely, or with a short abrupt motion, as at the end of a string; a pendant; as, the bob at the end of a kite's tail.

In jewels dressed and at each ear a bob .
Dryden.

2. A knot of worms, or of rags, on a string, used in angling, as for eels; formerly, a worm suitable for bait.

Or yellow bobs , turned up before the plow,
Are chiefest baits, with cork and lead enow.
Lauson.

3. A small piece of cork or light wood attached to a fishing line to show when a fish is biting; a float. 4. The ball or heavy part of a pendulum; also, the ball or weight at the end of a plumb line. 5. A small wheel, made of leather, with rounded edges, used in polishing spoons, etc. 6. A short, jerking motion; act of bobbing; as, a bob of the head. 7. (Steam Engine) A working beam. 8. A knot or short curl of hair; also, a bob wig.

A plain brown bob he wore.
Shenstone.

9. A peculiar mode of ringing changes on bells. 10. The refrain of a song.

To bed, to bed, will be the bob of the song.
L'Estrange.

11. A blow; a shake or jog; a rap, as with the fist. 12. A jeer or flout; a sharp jest or taunt; a trick.

He that a fool doth very wisely hit,
Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
Not to seem senseless of the bob .
Shak.

13. A shilling. [ Slang, Eng.] Dickens.

Bob Bob transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Bobbed ; present participle & verbal noun Bobbing .] [ Middle English bobben . See Bob , noun ] 1. To cause to move in a short, jerking manner; to move (a thing) with a bob. "He bobbed his head." W. Irving. 2. To strike with a quick, light blow; to tap.

If any man happened by long sitting to sleep . . . he was suddenly bobbed on the face by the servants.
Elyot.

3. To cheat; to gain by fraud or cheating; to filch.

Gold and jewels that I bobbed from him.
Shak.

4. To mock or delude; to cheat.

To play her pranks, and bob the fool,
The shrewish wife began.
Turbervile.

5. To cut short; as, to bob the hair, or a horse's tail.

Bob Bob intransitive verb 1. To have a short, jerking motion; to play to and fro, or up and down; to play loosely against anything. " Bobbing and courtesying." Thackeray. 2. To angle with a bob. See Bob , noun , 2 & 3.

He ne'er had learned the art to bob
For anything but eels.
Saxe.

To bob at an apple , cherry , etc. to attempt to bite or seize with the mouth an apple, cherry, or other round fruit, while it is swinging from a string or floating in a tug of water.

Bob wig Bob" wig` A short wig with bobs or short curls; -- called also bobtail wig . Spectator.

Bob-cherry Bob"-cher`ry noun A play among children, in which a cherry, hung so as to bob against the mouth, is to be caught with the teeth.

Bobac Bo"bac noun (Zoology) The Poland marmot ( Arctomys bobac ).

Bobance Bo·bance" noun [ Old French bobance , French bombance , boasting, pageantry, from Latin bombus a humming, buzzing.] A boasting. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Bobber Bob"ber noun One who, or that which, bobs.

Bobbery Bob"ber·y noun [ Prob. an Anglo-Indian form of Hindi bāp re O thou father! (a very disrespectful address).] A squabble; a tumult; a noisy disturbance; as, to raise a bobbery . [ Low] Halliwell.

Bobbin Bob"bin noun [ French bobine ; of uncertain origin; confer Latin bombus a humming, from the noise it makes, or Ir. & Gael. baban tassel, or English bob .] 1. A small pin, or cylinder, formerly of bone, now most commonly of wood, used in the making of pillow lace. Each thread is wound on a separate bobbin which hangs down holding the thread at a slight tension. 2. A spool or reel of various material and construction, with a head at one or both ends, and sometimes with a hole bored through its length by which it may be placed on a spindle or pivot. It is used to hold yarn or thread, as in spinning or warping machines, looms, sewing machines, etc. 3. The little rounded piece of wood, at the end of a latch string, which is pulled to raise the latch. 4. (Haberdashery) A fine cord or narrow braid. 5. (Electricity) A cylindrical or spool-shaped coil or insulated wire, usually containing a core of soft iron which becomes magnetic when the wire is traversed by an electrical current. Bobbin and fly frame , a roving machine. -- Bobbin lace , lace made on a pillow with bobbins; pillow lace.

Bobbinet Bob`bi·net" noun [ Bobbin + net .] A kind of cotton lace which is wrought by machines, and not by hand. [ Sometimes written bobbin net .]

The English machine-made net is now confined to point net, warp net, and bobbin net , so called from the peculiar construction of the machines by which they are produced.
Tomlinsom.

Bobbinwork Bob"bin·work` noun Work woven with bobbins.

Bobbish Bob"bish adjective Hearty; in good spirits. [ Low, Eng.] Dickens.

Bobby Bob"by noun A nickname for a policeman; -- from Sir Robert Peel, who remodeled the police force. See Peeler. [ Slang, Eng.] Dickens.

Bobfly Bob"fly` noun (Fishing) The fly at the end of the leader; an end fly.

Bobolink Bob"o·link` noun (Zoology) An American singing bird ( Dolichonyx oryzivorus ). The male is black and white; the female is brown; -- called also, ricebird , reedbird , and Boblincoln .

The happiest bird of our spring is the bobolink .
W. Irving.

Bobsled, Bobsleigh Bob"sled`, Bob"sleigh` noun A short sled, mostly used as one of a pair connected by a reach or coupling; also, the compound sled so formed. [ U. S.]

The long wagon body set on bobsleds .
W. D. Howells.

Bobstay Bob"stay` noun [ Bob + stay .] (Nautical) A rope or chain to confine the bowsprit of a ship downward to the stem or cutwater; -- usually in the plural

Bobtail Bob"tail` noun [ Bob + tail .] An animal (as a horse or dog) with a short tail. Rag, tag, and bobtail , the rabble.