bombast Meaning, Definition & Usage

Bom"bast noun

Etymology

OF. bombace cotton, LL. bombax cotton, bombasium a doublet of cotton; hence, padding, wadding, fustian. See Bombazine.

Definitions

1. Originally, cotton, or cotton wool. Obs.

   A candle with a wick of bombast. Lupton.

2. Cotton, or any soft, fibrous material, used as stuffing for garments; stuffing; padding. Obs.

   How now, my sweet creature of bombast! Shak.

   Doublets, stuffed with four, five, or six pounds of bombast at least. Stubbes.

3. Fig.: High-sounding words; an inflated style; language above the dignity of the occasion; fustian.

   Yet noisy bombast carefully avoid. Dryden.

Bom"bast adjective

Definitions

1. High-sounding; inflated; big without meaning; magniloquent; bombastic.

   [He] evades them with a bombast circumstance, Horribly stuffed with epithets of war. Shak.

   Nor a tall metaphor in bombast way. Cowley.

Bom*bast" transitive verb

Definitions

1. To swell or fill out; to pad; to inflate. Obs.

   Not bombasted with words vain ticklish ears to feed. Drayton.