[f. SWAGGER v. + -ING1.] The action of the verb SWAGGER; the behavior of a swaggerer; † quarrelling.
a. 1596. Sir T. More (Malone Soc.), 865. You think … with your swaggering, you can bear ’t away.
1611. Middleton & Dekker, Roaring Girle, D.’s Wks. 1873, III. 170. They keepe a vilde swaggering in coaches now a daies.
1624. Capt. J. Smith, Virginia, VI. 223. Much swaggering wee had with them.
1687. T. Brown, Saints in Uproar, Wks. 1730, I. 72. There is … such swaggering and bouncing … that … I expected every minute it would come to downright kick and cuff between ’em.
a. 1715. Burnet, Own Time, III. (1724), I. 501 (an. 1681). In their cups the old valour and the swaggerings of the Cavaliers seemed to be revived.
1837. W. Irving, Capt. Bonneville, II. 177. Such is the kind of swaggering and rodomontade in which the ‘red men’ are apt to indulge in their vainglorious moments.
