BLUSTER

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does bluster mean? 

• BLUSTER (noun)
  The noun BLUSTER has 4 senses:

1. noisy confusion and turbulence

2. a swaggering show of courage

3. a violent gusty wind

4. vain and empty boasting

  Familiarity information: BLUSTER used as a noun is uncommon.

• BLUSTER (verb)
  The verb BLUSTER has 3 senses:

1. blow hard; be gusty, as of wind

2. show off

3. act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner

  Familiarity information: BLUSTER used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BLUSTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Noisy confusion and turbulence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

he was awakened by the bluster of their preparations

Hypernyms ("bluster" is a kind of...):

confusion (disorder resulting from a failure to behave predictably)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A swaggering show of courage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

bluster; bravado

Hypernyms ("bluster" is a kind of...):

fanfare; flash; ostentation (a gaudy outward display)

Derivation:

bluster (show off)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A violent gusty wind

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("bluster" is a kind of...):

blast; blow; gust (a strong current of air)

Derivation:

bluster (blow hard; be gusty, as of wind)

blusterous; blustery (blowing in violent and abrupt bursts)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Vain and empty boasting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

bluster; braggadocio; rhodomontade; rodomontade

Hypernyms ("bluster" is a kind of...):

boast; boasting; jactitation; self-praise (speaking of yourself in superlatives)

Derivation:

bluster (show off)

• BLUSTER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bluster    ... he / she / it blusters   
Past simple: blustered   
Past participle: blustered   
-ing form: blustering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Blow hard; be gusty, as of wind

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Context example:

The flames blustered

Hypernyms (to "bluster" is one way to...):

blow (be blowing or storming)

Sentence frame:

It is ----ing

Derivation:

bluster (a violent gusty wind)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Show off

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

blow; bluster; boast; brag; gas; gasconade; shoot a line; swash; tout; vaunt

Hypernyms (to "bluster" is one way to...):

amplify; exaggerate; hyperbolise; hyperbolize; magnify; overdraw; overstate (to enlarge beyond bounds or the truth)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bluster"):

puff (speak in a blustering or scornful manner)

crow; gloat; triumph (dwell on with satisfaction)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE
Somebody ----s to somebody

Derivation:

bluster (a swaggering show of courage)

bluster (vain and empty boasting)

blusterer (a person who causes trouble by speaking indiscreetly)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Act in an arrogant, overly self-assured, or conceited manner

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

bluster; swagger; swash

Hypernyms (to "bluster" 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:

blusterer (a person who causes trouble by speaking indiscreetly)

 Context examples 

Beyond, the Pacific, dim and vast, was raising on its sky-line tumbled cloud-masses that swept landward, giving warning of the first blustering breath of winter.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He tried to bluster out of it, but I described to him so exactly what his actions had been upon that morning that he is convinced that I was watching him.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But when I gave him every particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a life-preserver from the wall.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All his bluster had gone, and he seemed to have caught the contagion of preternatural calm.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

My business was to declare myself a scoundrel, and whether I did it with a bow or a bluster was of little importance.— 'I am ruined for ever in their opinion—' said I to myself—'I am shut out for ever from their society, they already think me an unprincipled fellow, this letter will only make them think me a blackguard one.' Such were my reasonings, as, in a sort of desperate carelessness, I copied my wife's words, and parted with the last relics of Marianne.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)