different between brag vs bully

English

Etymology

From Middle English braggen (“to make a loud noise; to speak boastfully”) of unknown origin. Possibly related to the Middle English adjective brag (“prideful; spirited”), which is probably of Celtic origin; or from Old Norse bragr (“best; foremost; poetry”); or through Old English from Old Norse braka (“to creak”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?æ?/
• Hyphenation: brag
• Rhymes: -æ?

Noun

brag (plural brags)

1. A boast or boasting; bragging; ostentatious pretence or self-glorification.
2. The thing which is boasted of.
3. (by ellipsis) The card game three card brag.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chesterfield to this entry?)

Derived terms

• bragless

Translations

Verb

brag (third-person singular simple present brags, present participle bragging, simple past and past participle bragged)

1. (intransitive) To boast; to talk with excessive pride about what one has, is able to do, or has done; often as an attempt to popularize oneself.

2. (transitive) To boast of.

Synonyms

• boast

Hyponyms

• brag on

Derived terms

• braggard
• humblebrag

Related terms

• bragging rights

Translations

Adjective

brag (comparative bragger, superlative braggest)

1. Excellent; first-rate.
2. (archaic) Brisk; full of spirits; boasting; pretentious; conceited.
   • 1633, Ben Jonson, A Tale of a Tub

   a woundy, brag young fellow

Adverb

brag (comparative more brag, superlative most brag)

1. (obsolete) proudly; boastfully

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Fuller to this entry?)

References

Anagrams

• ARGB, garb, grab

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse brak.

Noun

brag n (singular definite braget, plural indefinite brag)

1. bang, crash

Inflection

Related terms

• brage verb

Verb

brag

1. imperative of brage

North Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian bregge, which derives from Proto-Germanic *brugj?. Cognates include West Frisian brêge.

Noun

brag f (plural bragen)

1. (Föhr-Amrum) bridge

English

Etymology

From 1530, as a term of endearment, probably a diminutive ( +? -y) of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”), from Middle Dutch boel, boele (“brother; lover”), from Old Dutch *buolo, from Proto-Germanic *b?lô (compare Middle Low German bôle (“brother”), Middle High German buole (“brother; close relative; close relation”) (whence German Buhle (“lover”)), Old English B?la, B?lla (personal name), diminutive of expressive *b?- (“brother, father”). Compare also Latvian b?linš (“brother”). More at boy.

The term acquired negative senses during the 17th century; first ‘noisy, blustering fellow’ then ‘a person who is cruel to others’. Possibly influenced by bull (“male cattle”) or via the ‘prostitute's minder’ sense. The positive senses are dated, but survive in phrases such as bully pulpit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?li/
• Rhymes: -?li

Noun

bully (countable and uncountable, plural bullies)

1. A person who is intentionally physically or emotionally cruel to others, especially to those who are weaker or have less power or privilege. [from late 17th c.]

2. A noisy, blustering, tyrannical person, more insolent than courageous; one who is threatening and quarrelsome.
3. A hired thug.
   • 1849, John McLean, Notes of a Twenty-Five Years' Service in the Hudson's Bay Territory, pp. 42-3:

     Mr. Fisher returned from town... he had learnt that our opponents intended to shift the scene of operations to the Chats... We understood that they had hired two bullies for the purpose of deciding the matter par voie de fait. Mr Fisher hired two of the same description, who were supposed to be more than a match for the opposition party.

   Synonyms: henchman, thug

4. A sex worker’s minder.

   Synonyms: pimp; see also Thesaurus:pimp

   • 2009, Dan Cruikshank, Secret History of Georgian London, Random House, p. 473:

     The Proclamation Society and the Society for the Suppression of Vice were more concerned with obscene literature […] than with hands-on street battles with prostitutes and their bullies […].

5. (uncountable) Bully beef.
6. (obsolete) A brisk, dashing fellow.
7. The small scrum in the Eton College field game.
8. Various small freshwater or brackishwater fish of the family Eleotridae; sleeper goby.
9. (obsolete or dialectal, Ireland and Northern England) An (eldest) brother; a fellow workman; comrade
10. (dialectal) A companion; mate (male or female).

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:friend

11. (obsolete) A darling, sweetheart (male or female).

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sweetheart
12. (field hockey) A standoff between two players from the opposing teams, who repeatedly hit each other's hockey sticks and then attempt to acquire the ball, as a method of resuming the game in certain circumstances. Also called bully-off.
13. (mining) A miner's hammer.

Translations

Verb

bully (third-person singular simple present bullies, present participle bullying, simple past and past participle bullied)

1. (transitive) To intimidate (someone) as a bully.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:intimidate

2. (transitive) To act aggressively towards.

   Synonyms: push around, ride roughshod over

Translations

Adjective

bully (comparative bullier, superlative bulliest)

1. (US, slang) Very good.

   Synonyms: excellent; see also Thesaurus:excellent

   • 1916, The Independent (volumes 35-36, page 6)

     She is a bully woman, not only a good mother, but a wonderful in-law

2. (slang, obsolete) Jovial and blustering.

   Synonym: dashing

   • 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor Act II, scene iii:

Derived terms

• bully boy
• bully pulpit

Translations

Interjection

bully

1. (often followed by for) Well done!

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:well done

Translations

Further reading

• bully on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English bully, itself a derivation of Dutch boel (“lover; brother”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bu.li/
• Hyphenation: bul?ly

Noun

bully m (plural bully's)

1. (field hockey) bully (way of resuming the game with a standoff between two opposing players who repeatedly hit each other's sticks, then try to gain possession of the ball)

Spanish

Noun

bully m (plural bullys or bullies or bully)

1. bully