I. boast 1 /bəʊst $ boʊst/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Anglo-French ; Origin: bost 'boasting' ]
1 . [intransitive and transitive] to talk too proudly about your abilities, achievements, or possessions:
‘I wouldn’t be afraid,’ she boasted.
boast that
Amy boasted that her son was a genius.
boast about
He’s boasting about how much money he has made.
boast of
The company is inclined to boast of its success.
2 . [transitive not in progressive] if a place, object, or organization boasts something, it has something that is very good:
The city boasts two excellent museums.
The Society boasts 3,000 members worldwide.
—boaster noun [countable]
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THESAURUS
▪ boast to talk too proudly about your abilities, achievements, or possessions because you want other people to admire you:
She’s always boasting about how good she is at languages.
▪ brag to boast in a way that annoys other people. Brag is more informal than boast :
He was bragging about how many girlfriends he had had.
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I don’t think they have anything to brag about.
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The rebels have repeatedly bragged that their fighters have been responsible for the mounting attacks on policemen, 226 of whom were killed last year.
▪ blow your own trumpet British English , blow your own horn American English spoken to talk a lot about your achievements – used especially when you want to mention your achievements but do not want to sound as if you are boasting:
I don’t want to blow my own trumpet, but it was me who came up with the idea for the project in the first place.
▪ crow to boast about something you have achieved, when other people have been less lucky or successful:
Nordstrom and his supporters are still crowing about winning the lawsuit.
▪ gloat to behave in a way that shows that you are proud of your own success and happy about someone else’s failure:
The Australians are still gloating over their victory over England.
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The liberals are gloating and celebrating all over town.
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I haven’t come to gloat! We all have to lose sometimes.
▪ be full of yourself informal to show by your words and behaviour that you are very proud of your abilities and achievements - used when you dislike someone because of this:
‘He’s so full of himself,’ Constance complained. ‘He thinks he can get away with anything.’
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After the game she was really full of herself.
II. boast 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
something that you like telling people because you are proud of it:
It is the company’s proud boast that it can deal with all a customer’s needs in one phone call.
Philip’s boast is that he started out without any outside financial backing.
an empty/idle/vain boast (=a false statement that something is good or possible)
‘Making knowledge work’ is the university’s phrase, and it is no idle boast (=not a boast, but true) .