Now rhet. or arch. Also 5–7 vant, 6 vaunte, 6 Sc. wantt-, wanet-, 6–7 vante. [a. OF. (also mod.F.) vanter, = It. and med.L. vantare:—pop.L. *vānitāre: cf. AVAUNT v.1]
1. intr. To boast or brag; to use boastful, bragging or vainglorious language.
Fairly common c. 1600; now rare or Obs.
14[?]. Langl., P. Pl., C. VII. 35. Me wilnynge þat men wende ich were … Riche,… Bostynge and Braggynge wyth meny bolde oþes, Auauntyng vp-on [Ilchester MS. Vauntyng vp] my veine glorie for eny vndernymynge.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 508/1. Vaunton, or a-vaunton or booston, jacto, ostento.
1515. Barclay, Egloges, iv. (1570), C vj/1. They laude their verses, they boast, they vaunt, they iet.
1570. Levins, Manip., 25. To vaunt, gloriari.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 198. But I will not vaunt, before the victorie.
1603. J. Davies (Heref.), Microcosmos, Wks. (Grosart), I. 31/1. For Southward, men are cruell, moody, madd, Hot blacke, leane, leapers, lustfull, vsd to vant.
1630. R. Johnson’s Kingd. & Commw., 476. All this (as the drunkard will vaunt,) for the honour of … the Prince.
1699. Temple, Hist. Eng., 583. He talk’d little, never vaunted, observ’d much, was very secret.
1700. Dryden, Ovid’s Met., XV. 342. In time he vaunts among his Youthful Peers, Strong-bon’d, and strung with Nerves, in pride of Years.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XI. 462. Transported from his ambush forth he leap’d With a loud laugh, and, vaunting, thus exclaim’d: Oh shaft well shot! it galls thee.
1805. Eugenia de Acton, Nuns of Desert, I. 145. Sometimes vowing never-ceasing affection, then vaunting in his power, threatening revenge for her disdainful repulsion of offers.
1826. Andr. Scott, Poems, 97. He could vaunting tell, That he wad face the ghaist.
b. Const. of (or † on).
1548–77. Vicary, Anat. (1888), i. 17. A cunning and skilful Chirurgion neede neuer vaunt of his dooings.
1584–7. Greene, Morando, Wks. (Grosart), III. 67. They thinke no man so able to atchiue any enterprises as he, vanting of his victories.
1605. Camden, Rem., Epigr., 12. The vanitie of them which vaunt of their auncient nobility.
1634. W. Tirwhyt, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. I.), 394. He … blusheth not at Christian vertues, nor vanteth of moral ones.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 93. The Hollanders … Vant of their scarcity of theeves.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XIII. 82. Here Hector … Vaunts of his gods, and calls high Jove his sire.
1792. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1775. He did not vaunt of his new dignity, but I understood he was highly pleased with it.
1802. Mrs. E. Parsons, Myst. Visit, IV. 53. Who, like the proud Pharisee,… proudly vaunt on their own virtues.
1818. Byron, Juan, I. i. Of such as these I should not care to vaunt.
1821. Joanna Baillie, Metr. Leg., Wallace, v. The meanest drudge will sometimes vaunt Of independent sires.
c. With other preps.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. 2 Peter ii. 19. They are rather filthe and spottes, who in their filthie glotonous bankettings vaunt against you, as though you were madde menne.
1591. Spenser, Virg. Gnat, 559. And all that vaunts in worldly vanitie Shall fall through fortunes mutabilitie.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xv. When I perceiue that men as plants increase, Cheared and checkt euen by the selfe-same skie: Vaunt in their youthfull sap, at height decrease.
1605. 1st Part Ieronimo, III. ii. (Stage direction), Andrea slain, and Prince Balthezer vanting on him.
1628. Prynne, Love-lockes, 40. Who vaunts, and triumphes, in the length and largenesse of his Locke.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, VII. 86. So erst from earth Antæus vaunting in his giant bulk, When graspt by force Herculean, down he fell Vanquish’d.
1805. Eugenia de Acton, Nuns of Desert, II. 254. She vaunted over the ‘humble and meek.’
† d. With it. Also spec. (see quot. 1611). Obs.
1611. Florio, Chiestare,… to vant it or vie it in gaming.
1614. W. Browne, Sheph. Pipe, I. i. Hearke, how yonder Thrustle chants it, And her mate as proudly vants it.
2. With clause as object, usu. introduced by that.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccccxxxviii. 311/2. He had before sayd and vaunted, howe & the kynge came to reyse the siege before Ipre, he wolde abyde & fight with hym.
1562. Winȝet, Wks. (S.T.S.), II. 37. Apollinaris in a manere crakis and waintis that he consentis in deid to the vnitie of the Trinitie.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., I. iii. 87. She vaunted ’mongst her Minions t’other day, The very trayne of her worst wearing Gowne, was better worth then all my Fathers Lands.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 171. All others may vaunt verily, that they have vanquished men: but Sergius may boast, that he hath conquered … Fortune her selfe.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., viii. 25. Prester-John, of whose race the Abissins vaunt they are descended.
1815. W. H. Ireland, Scribbleomania, 136, note. The emperor … vaunting that, with his good sword, he could cut a man in twain.
1853. J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk. (1873), II. I. i. 33. Attila vaunted that the grass never grew again after his horse’s hoof.
† 3. refl. To boast, extol, glorify or praise (oneself). Usu. const. for, of or in. Obs.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2713. For vertu ne no victori ne vant noght þi-selfe.
a. 1500. in Ratis Raving, etc., 81. Thai rus thaim nocht of done foly,… Na wanttis thaim nocht of thar gud deid.
1624. Wotton, Arch., 55. Apelles [did excel] in Invention and Grace, whereof he doth himself most vaunt.
1825. Scott, Talism., iii. Thou shouldst know, ere thou vauntest thyself, that one steel glove can crush a whole handful of hornets.
1876. Swinburne, Erechtheus, 1180. Who may vaunt him as we may in death though he die for the land?
transf. 1576. Gascoigne, Kenilworth Castle, Wks. 1910, II. 119. The Countrey craves consent, your vertues vaunt themselfe.
c. 1590. Greene, Fr. Bacon, III. i. Fore the morning sun Shall vaunt him thrice ouer the loftie east.
b. With infinitive or object clause. Also with for (= as), and double accusative. Obs.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, I. ix. 85. Full oft him self extoll and vant he wald or Troiane bluide to be descend of ald.
1562. Winȝet, Wks. (S.T.S.), II. 27. Donatistis … quha craikis and wanetis thame be the auctoritie of that counsel to baptize agane.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., IV. xxviii. 146 b. Shooting…, whereof they do vaunt themselues to haue been the first inuentors.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Friendship (Arb.), 169. Pompey vaunted Himselfe for Sylla’s Ouermatch.
1816. Scott, Bl. Dwarf, xvi. Thou vauntest thyself a philosopher?
† c. To bear (oneself) proudly or vaingloriously.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 236. The Church that yet vaunteth it selfe with two steeples.
1577. Test. of 12 Patr. (1604), 52. Ye shall be swoln with wickedness in the priesthood,… not only vaunting and boasting your selves against men, but also being puffed and swoln up with pride against the commandments of God.
1611. Bible, 1 Cor. xiii. 4. Charitie enuieth not: charitie vaunteth not it selfe, is not puffed vp.
1663. S. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xi. (1687), 67. Hath he not crowned himself with greater glory in not vaunting himself in those Trophies?
† 4. trans. To proclaim or display proudly. Obs.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. ii. 16. Tell me … What shape, what shield,… And what so else his person most may vaunt?
1592. Kyd, Sp. Trag., I. II. 27. There met our armies in their proud aray: Both furnisht well, both full of hope and feare,… Both vaunting sundry colours of deuice.
5. To boast of (something); to commend or praise in a vainglorious manner.
a. 1592. Greene, Alphonsus, II. i. And then I meane to vaunt our victorie.
c. 1696. Prior, Partial Fame, 7. He vaunts His Conquest, She conceals Her Shame.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 65. 68. A Keeper of Bears may as well vaunt his Policy, as a Ruler of Slaves.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), I. Pref. 11. This country, which does not always err in vaunting its own productions.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xxxvii. He really felt the ascendency which he vaunted.
1850. Merivale, Rom. Rep., viii. (1865), I. 226. The Roman matron was taught indeed to vaunt her ignorance as a virtue.
1878. Emerson, Misc. Papers, Sov. Ethics, Wks. (Bohn), III. 372. In ignorant ages it was common to vaunt the human superiority by underrating the instinct of other animals.
† b. To utter boastingly. Obs.–1
1633. P. Fletcher, Poet. Misc., 87. They cut my heart, they vant that bitter word, Where is thy trust? where is thy hope?
