swagger

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To behave (especially to walk or carry oneself) in a pompous, superior manner.

   • What hempen home-ſpuns haue we ſwaggering here, / So neere the Cradle of the Faierie Queene?
   • He is a political humbug, the greatest of all humbugs; a man who swaggers about London clubs and consults solemnly about his influence, and in the country is a nonentity.
2. 2

   To boast or brag noisily

   To boast or brag noisily; to bluster; to bully.

   • To be great is not […] to swagger at our footmen.
   • “They say there’s something wrong with our president!” Mr. Trump swaggered at his indoor Tulsa rally in June,[…]
3. 3

   To walk with a swaying motion.

   • It's the injustice… he is so unjust— whiskey-blind, swaggering home at five.
4. ›+ 5 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Confidence, pride.

      • After spending so much of the season looking upwards, the swashbuckling style and swagger of early season Spurs was replaced by uncertainty and frustration against a Norwich side who had the quality and verve to take advantage
   2. 5

      A bold or arrogant strut.

      • He steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk, and would let that cripple of a steamboat get the upper hand of him in a minute.
   3. 6

      A prideful boasting or bragging.

      • Too often we honor swagger and bluster and the wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their lives on the shattered dreams of others.
   4. 7

      Fashionable

      Fashionable; trendy.

      • It is to be a very swagger affair, with notables from every part of Europe, and they seem determined that no one connected with a newspaper shall be admitted.
      • 15 March, 1896, Ernest Rutherford, letter to Mary Newton Mrs J.J. [Thomson] looked very well and was dressed very swagger and made a very fine hostess.
      • Mrs. Morton was well known for her Americanisms, her swagger dinner parties, and beautiful Paris gowns.
   5. 8

      Someone carrying a swag

      Someone carrying a swag; a swagman.

      • There were now more swaggers passing down Ferry Street and more coming to ask for food […].
      • She looked down in her half-dreaming state and thought they might be swaggers. There were lots of them that year, camped out on the riverbank netting for whitebait, then fanning out around the streets selling their catch door to door.

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