| English Dictionary |
SWAGGER (swagger)
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does swagger mean?
• SWAGGER (noun)
The noun SWAGGER has 2 senses:
1. an itinerant Australian laborer who carries his personal belongings in a bundle as he travels around in search of work
2. a proud stiff pompous gait
Familiarity information: SWAGGER used as a noun is rare.
• SWAGGER (adjective)
The adjective SWAGGER has 1 sense:
1. (British informal) very chic
Familiarity information: SWAGGER used as an adjective is very rare.
• SWAGGER (verb)
The verb SWAGGER has 3 senses:
1. to walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others
2. discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate
3. act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner
Familiarity information: SWAGGER used as a verb is uncommon.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
An itinerant Australian laborer who carries his personal belongings in a bundle as he travels around in search of work
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
Hypernyms ("swagger" is a kind of...):
gipsy; gypsy; itinerant (a laborer who moves from place to place as demanded by employment)
Domain region:
Australia; Commonwealth of Australia (a nation occupying the whole of the Australian continent; Aboriginal tribes are thought to have migrated from southeastern Asia 20,000 years ago; first Europeans were British convicts sent there as a penal colony)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A proud stiff pompous gait
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Synonyms:
Hypernyms ("swagger" is a kind of...):
gait (a person's manner of walking)
Derivation:
swagger (to walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(British informal) very chic
Synonyms:
groovy; swagger
Context example:
groovy clothes
Similar:
fashionable; stylish (being or in accordance with current social fashions)
Domain region:
Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it swaggers Past simple: swaggered
Past participle: swaggered
-ing form: swaggering
Sense 1
Meaning:
To walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Synonyms:
cock; prance; ruffle; sashay; strut; swagger; tittup
Context example:
He struts around like a rooster in a hen house
Hypernyms (to "swagger" is one way to...):
walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s PP
Sentence example:
The children swagger to the playground
Derivation:
swagger (a proud stiff pompous gait)
swaggerer (someone who walks in an arrogant manner)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Discourage or frighten with threats or a domineering manner; intimidate
Classified under:
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing
Synonyms:
Hypernyms (to "swagger" is one way to...):
blarney; cajole; coax; inveigle; palaver; sweet-talk; wheedle (influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody into V-ing something
Sense 3
Meaning:
Act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner
Classified under:
Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care
Synonyms:
Hypernyms (to "swagger" is one way to...):
act; behave; do (behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
swaggerer (someone who walks in an arrogant manner)
Context examples
Joe Berks in the meanwhile had swaggered in and stood with folded arms between his seconds in the opposite corner.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He paused for a moment, and watched the youthful shade of himself, in stiff-rim and square-cut, enter the door and swagger across the room.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
He was a raw-boned, swarthy-cheeked man, with black bristling beard and a swaggering bearing.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He was a dashing, swaggering chap, smart and curled, who had seen half the world and could talk of what he had seen.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Even the hardy, swaggering half-breed seemed cowed.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
In fact, his conduct approached that of a bully, and he was given to swaggering up and down before Spitz’s very nose.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
Each time he performed the journey with greater swagger, but he never brought more than a few dollars at a time.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
There was an ease in his manner—a gay and light manner it was, but not swaggering—which I still believe to have borne a kind of enchantment with it.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
He swaggered up a path as if the place belonged to him, and we heard his loud, confident peal at the bell.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I saw, besides, many old sailors, with rings in their ears, and whiskers curled in ringlets, and tarry pigtails, and their swaggering, clumsy sea-walk; and if I had seen as many kings or archbishops I could not have been more delighted.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
| Learn English with... Proverbs |
"Fun and pleasure are located below the navel; dispute and trouble are also located there." (Bhutanese proverb)
"Words of wisdom comes out of simple people mouths." (Arabic proverb)
"No man has fallen from the sky learned." (Czech proverb)