# boast

> English word · Noun · IPA /bəʊst/ · frequency rank #14,705

## Definitions
1. A brag; ostentatious positive appraisal of oneself.
2. Something that one brags about.
3. A shot where the ball is driven off a side wall and then strikes the front wall.

## Etymology
From Middle English bosten, from bost (“boast, glory, noise, arrogance, presumption, pride, vanity”), probably of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bausuz (“inflated, swollen, puffed up, proud, arrogant, bad”).
Cognate with Scots bost, boist (“to threaten, brag, boast”), Anglo-Norman bost (“ostentation”) (from Germanic). Related to Norwegian baus (“proud, bold, daring”), dialectal German baustern (“to swell”), German böse (“evil, bad, angry”), Dutch boos (“evil, wicked, angry”), West Frisian boas (“bad, wicked, angry, shrewd, clever”). Compare also dialectal Norwegian bausta, busta (“to rush onward, make a noise”). Possible doublet of boost.
Compare typologically puffy, Russian напы́щенный (napýščennyj), наду́тый (nadútyj).

## Easily confused with
- **bot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-bot)
- **boys** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-boys)
- **boss** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-boss)
- **boat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-boat)
- **boot** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-boot)
- **bout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-bout)
- **bolt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-bolt)
- **bust** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-bust)
- **bows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-bows)
- **brat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-brat)
- **Bois** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-bois)
- **Bose** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-bose)
- **boos** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-boos)
- **bosh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-bosh)
- **boost** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-boost)
- **boats** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-boats)
- **burst** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-burst)
- **brass** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-brass)
- **Boise** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-boise)
- **bossy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/boast-vs-bossy)

## Common misspellings (6)
`baost`, `bboast`, `boasst`, `boastt`, `bosat`, `obast`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/boast