rodomontade

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Vain boasting; a rant; pretentious behaviour.

   “[…] the Gasconads of France, Rodomontads of Spain, Fanfaronads of Italy, and Bragadochio brags of all other countries, could no more astonish his invincible heart, then would the cheeping of a mouse a bear robbed of her whelps.”

   “Indeed, there is much Reaſon to imagine, that there was not the leaſt Truth in what Mr. Weſtern affirmed, eſpecially as he laid the Scene of thoſe Impurities at the Univerſity, where Mr. Allworthy had never been. In fact, the good Squire was a little too apt to indulge that Kind of Pleaſantry which is generally called Rodomontade; but which may, with as much Propriety, be expreſſed by a much ſhorter Word; […]”

   “Not a glimpse can you get of the merits or defects of the performers: they are hidden in a profusion of barbarous epithets and wilful rhodomontade.”

   “Many of her ladyship’s letters were the most whimsical rhodomontades that ever blue-stocking penned.”

   “He talks of her abroad as a stern and rigid master dealing with a naughty slave, though, by the look that accompanies his rhodomontade, I am convinced that at home he is the very model of "managed men."”

adj

1. Pretentiously boastful.

verb

1. (archaic)To boast, brag or bluster pretentiously.