Adjacent Words

Bluster definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BLUS'TER, v.i. [Probably allied to blaze, blast.]
1. To be loud, noisy or swaggering; to bully; to purr; to swagger; as a turbulent or boasting person.
2. To roar, and be tumultuous, as wind; to be boisterous; to be windy;; to hurry.
BLUS'TER, n. Noise; tumult; boasting; boisterousness; turbulence; roar of a tempest; violent wind; hurry; any irregular noise and tumult from wind, or from vanity.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: noisy confusion and turbulence; "he was awakened by the bluster of their preparations"
2: a swaggering show of courage [syn: bravado, bluster]
3: a violent gusty wind
4: vain and empty boasting [syn: braggadocio, bluster, rodomontade, rhodomontade] v
1: blow hard; be gusty, as of wind; "A southeaster blustered onshore"; "The flames blustered"
2: show off [syn: boast, tout, swash, shoot a line, brag, gas, blow, bluster, vaunt, gasconade]
3: act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner [syn: swagger, bluster, swash]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (blustered; blustering) Etymology: Middle English blustren, probably from Middle Low German blüsteren Date: 15th century intransitive verb 1. to talk or act with noisy swaggering threats 2. a. to blow in stormy noisy gusts b. to be windy and boisterous transitive verb 1. to utter with noisy self-assertiveness 2. to drive or force by blustering • blusterer noun • blusteringly adverb II. noun Date: 1583 1. a violent boisterous blowing 2. violent commotion 3. loudly boastful or threatening speech • blusterous adjective • blustery adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v.intr. 1 behave pompously and boisterously; utter empty threats. 2 (of the wind etc.) blow fiercely. --n. 1 noisily self-assertive talk. 2 empty threats. Derivatives: blusterer n. blustery adj. Etymology: 16th c.: ult. imit.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bluster Blus"ter, v. t. To utter, or do, with noisy violence; to force by blustering; to bully. He bloweth and blustereth out . . . his abominable blasphemy. --Sir T. More. As if therewith he meant to bluster all princes into a perfect obedience to his commands. --Fuller.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bluster Blus"ter, n. 1. Fitful noise and violence, as of a storm; violent winds; boisterousness. To the winds they set Their corners, when with bluster to confound Sea, air, and shore. --Milton. 2. Noisy and violent or threatening talk; noisy and boastful language. --L'Estrange. Syn: Noise; boisterousness; tumult; turbulence; confusion; boasting; swaggering; bullying.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bluster Blus"ter, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Blustered; p. pr. & vb. n. Blustering.] [Allied to blast.] 1. To blow fitfully with violence and noise, as wind; to be windy and boisterous, as the weather. And ever-threatening storms Of Chaos blustering round. --Milton. 2. To talk with noisy violence; to swagger, as a turbulent or boasting person; to act in a noisy, tumultuous way; to play the bully; to storm; to rage. Your ministerial directors blustered like tragic tyrants. --Burke.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(blusters, blustering, blustered) If you say that someone is blustering, you mean that they are speaking aggressively but without authority, often because they are angry or offended. 'That's lunacy,' he blustered... He was still blustering, but there was panic in his eyes. VERB: V with quote, V • Bluster is also a noun. ...the bluster of the Conservatives' campaign.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. n. 1. Roar (as the wind), make a loud noise. 2. Vapor, swagger, bully, vaunt, swell, domineer, gasconade, play the bully. See boast. 3. Make a great ado, make much ado about nothing. II. n. 1. Boisterousness, noise, tumult, turbulence. 2. Boasting, swaggering, bullying, blattering, vaporing, gasconade, fanfaronade. 3. Great ado, much ado about nothing.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To talk big, to hector or bully.

Moby Thesaurus

agitation, bawl, be livid, be pissed, bellow, blast, blow, blow a hurricane, blow great guns, blow over, blow up, bludgeon, bluff, bluster and bluff, bluster out of, boast, boastfulness, boasting, bobbery, boil, boiling, bombast, bounce, brag, braggadocio, braggartism, bragging, bravado, brawl, breeze, breeze up, brew, broil, brouhaha, browbeat, browned off, bulldoze, bully, bullyrag, burn, bustle, cacophony, carry on, chafe, chaos, churn, clamor, come up, commotion, conceit, conturbation, cow, crow, demoralize, discomposure, disorder, disquiet, disquietude, disturbance, dragoon, draw the longbow, ebullition, embroilment, excitement, fanaticism, fanfaronade, ferment, fermentation, fever, feverishness, fidgets, flap, flourish, flurry, fluster, flutteration, foment, fomentation, foofaraw, frenzy, freshen, fret, fume, furor, furore, fury, fuss, gasconade, gasconism, gather, go on, grandiloquence, harangue, harass, have a conniption, hector, heroics, hot air, hubbub, huff, hurly-burly, inquietude, intimidate, jactation, jactitation, jitters, jumpiness, look big, maelstrom, malaise, moil, nerviness, nervosity, nervousness, out-herod Herod, pandemonium, passion, perturbation, pipe up, pissed off, puff, puffery, racket, rage, raging, raise Cain, raise hell, raise the devil, raise the roof, rant, rant and rave, rave, raving, restlessness, rodomontade, roil, roister, rollick, rout, row, ruckus, rumpus, seethe, seething, set in, show off, side, simmer, sizzle, slang, smoke, smolder, speak for Buncombe, splutter, sputter, squall, stew, stir, storm, storminess, storming, strut, swagger, swaggering, swashbuckle, swirl, systematically terrorize, take on, talk big, tempestuousness, terrorize, threaten, throw a fit, to-do, trepidation, trepidity, tumult, tumultuation, tumultuousness, turbidity, turbulence, turmoil, twitter, unease, unrest, uproar, upset, vanity, vapor, vaunt, vauntery, vaunting, waft, whiff, whiffle, wildness, zeal, zealousness