The Collaborative International Dictionary
Swagger \Swag"ger\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Swaggered; p. pr. & vb. n. Swaggering.] [Freq. of swag.]
-
To walk with a swaying motion; hence, to walk and act in a pompous, consequential manner.
A man who swaggers about London clubs.
--Beaconsfield. -
To boast or brag noisily; to be ostentatiously proud or vainglorious; to bluster; to bully.
What a pleasant it is . . . to swagger at the bar!
--Arbuthnot.To be great is not . . . to swagger at our footmen.
--Colier.
Wiktionary
(rfdef: English) n. Boastful, blustering behaviour. v
(present participle of swagger English)
WordNet
adj. having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy; "some economists are disdainful of their colleagues in other social disciplines"; "haughty aristocrats"; "his lordly manners were offensive"; "walked with a prideful swagger"; "very sniffy about breaches of etiquette"; "his mother eyed my clothes with a supercilious air"; "shaggy supercilious camels"; "a more swaggering mood than usual"- W.L.Shirer [syn: disdainful, haughty, lordly, prideful, sniffy, supercilious]
flamboyantly adventurous [syn: swashbuckling]
Wikipedia
Swaggering is an ostentatious style of walking affected by men wishing to assert their dominance. It is a form of machismo or sexual display which takes up more space than needed for simple motion. The exact gait will vary with personality and fashion but it is generally more of a loose, rolling style than a stiff strut. Among London cockneys, this was stylised as the coster walk which became the dance craze of the Lambeth walk. Among African-Americans, this is known as a jive-ass walk or pimp walk. The actor John Wayne was known for his swaggering walk which became a distinctive element of his screen image.
A cane may be used as a walking stick as part of the performance. In the military, this became stylised as the swagger stick — useless as a support and just used for gesturing and prodding.
Portraits which are ostentatiously posed in the grand manner are known as swagger portraits. The Tate Gallery held an exhibition of these in 1992, featuring the work of William Dobson, Anthony van Dyck and Peter Lely.
Usage examples of "swaggering".
Not caring about consequences: a problem for a king when almost all of his appointed rulers, as well as every last swaggering one of the nobility, suffered from this disease.
The Zamorian traitor was a smiling, laughing villain, dear to a Turanian heart Small, lean, lithe, and swaggering, handsome and reckless as a young god, Vardanes was an amusing drinking companion and a devilish fighter but as cold-hearted and untrustworthy as an adder.
He stood long, gazing after the swaggering chieftain he had followed for nearly two years, ever since they had found Conan crucified near the walls of Khauran.
Clark, hands in pockets, tried a swaggering, lazy, confident slouch out of the manoeuvring room into the tunnel through the reactor.
She unconsciously swung her hips in a very feminine way, no longer using a swaggering gait.
Porifors indicates either a young Jokonan hothead swaggering for show, or something moving behind.
A quiet man could not walk the highways without being elbowed into the kennel by swaggering swashbucklers, or accosted by painted hussies.
They hesitate and stand together at the corner, swaggering, looking about them with a forced, defiant contempt.
Governor Nereus closed the distance between them, clasping both of his hands behind his back in a swaggering pose.
Gene Parsons, who stands well over six feet, found Russ something of a swaggering show-off.
It has claimed to be a polished aristocrat, when in reality it has only been a coarse, swaggering, and brutal boor.
Hairy Mike Dunne came swaggering across the stage, his iron billet in hand.
Mike Dunne came swaggering in from the forecastle, all six foot of him.