boast / bōst/ • v. 1. talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities: [with direct speech] Ted used to boast, “I manage ten people” 2. [tr.] (of a person, place, or thing) possess (a feature that is a source of pride): the hotel boasts high standards of comfort.• n. an act of talking with excessive pride and self-satisfaction: I said I would score, and it wasn't an idle boast.DERIVATIVES: boast·er n.boast·ing·ly adv.boast² • n. (in squash) a stroke in which the ball is made to hit one of the sidewalls before hitting the front wall.

boast.
1. To cut material, especially stone, to the general form, leaving it for later carving into, say, a capital. Such a form, awaiting fine dressing, is called boasted or bossage.

2. To dress stone with a boaster or drove (a broad chisel): boasted or droved dressings have regular marks like ribands or small chequers; irregular rough dressings are random-tooled or random-droved.

boast sb. XIII; vb. XIV (in early use both sb. and vb. often denote or imply clamorous or threatening utterance). — AN. bost and *boster, of unkn. orig.

Boast

a number of soldiers, 1486 [15th-century pun on exploits recounted by returning soldiers].