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Webster 1913 Edition

Bombast

Bom′bast

(bŏm′bȧst or bŭm′bȧst; 277)
,
Noun.
[OF.
bombace
cotton, LL.
bombax
cotton,
bombasium
a doublet of cotton; hence, padding, wadding, fustian. See
Bombazine
.]
1.
Originally, cotton, or cotton wool.
[Obs.]
A candle with a wick of
bombast
.
Lupton.
2.
Cotton, or any soft, fibrous material, used as stuffing for garments; stuffing; padding.
[Obs.]
How now, my sweet creature of
bombast
!
Shakespeare
Doublets, stuffed with four, five, or six pounds of
bombast
at least.
Stubbes.
3.
Fig.: High-sounding words; an inflated style; language above the dignity of the occasion; fustian.
Yet noisy
bombast
carefully avoid.
Dryden.

Bom′bast

,
Adj.
High-sounding; inflated; big without meaning; magniloquent; bombastic.
[He] evades them with a
bombast
circumstance,
Horribly stuffed with epithets of war.
Shakespeare
Nor a tall metaphor in
bombast
way.
Cowley.

Bom-bast′

(bŏm-bȧst′ or bŭm-bȧst′)
,
Verb.
T.
To swell or fill out; to pad; to inflate.
[Obs.]
Not
bombasted
with words vain ticklish ears to feed.
Drayton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Bombast

BOM'BAST

,
Noun.
Originally a stuff of soft loose texture, used to swell garments. Hence, high sounding words; an inflated style; fustian; a serious attempt, by strained description, to raise a low or familiar subject beyond its rank, which, instead of being sublime, never fails to be ridiculous.

BOM'BAST

,
Adj.
High-sounding; inflated; big without meaning.

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