bombast: [16] Bombast originally meant ‘cotton-wool’, especially as used for stuffing or padding clothes, upholstery, etc; hence, before the end of the 16th century, it had been transferred metaphorically to ‘pompous or turgid language’. The ultimate source of the word was Greek bómbux ‘silk, silkworm’, which came into English via Latin bombyx, bombax (source also of English bombazine [16]) and Old French bombace. The earliest English form was bombace, but it soon developed an additional final -t. => bombazine
bombast (n.)
1560s, "cotton padding," corrupted from earlier bombace (1550s), from Old French bombace "cotton, cotton wadding," from Late Latin bombacem, accusative of bombax "cotton, 'linteorum aut aliae quaevis quisquiliae,' " a corruption and transferred use of Latin bombyx "silk," from Greek bombyx "silk, silkworm" (which also came to mean "cotton" in Medieval Greek), from some oriental word, perhaps related to Iranian pambak (modern panba) or Armenian bambok, perhaps ultimately from a PIE root meaning "to twist, wind." From stuffing and padding for clothes or upholstery, meaning extended to "pompous, empty speech" (1580s).
Also from the same source are Swedish bomull, Danish bomuld "cotton," and, via Turkish forms, Modern Greek mpampaki, Rumanian bumbac, Serbo-Croatian pamuk. German baumwolle "cotton" is probably from the Latin word but altered by folk-etymology to look like "tree wool." Polish bawełna, Lithuanian bovelna are partial translations from German.
实用例句
1. There was no bombast or conceit in his speech.
他的演讲并没有夸大其词和自吹自擂。
来自辞典例句
2. But Yasha realized that Wolsky's bombast was unnecessary.
但是雅夏看出沃尔斯基是在无中生有地吹嘘.
来自辞典例句
3. And even Watts, for all his bombast, can be quite self - critical.
这使得瓦特对他自己的夸大言辞也做了 自我批评 .
来自互联网
4. His speech was full of bombast.
他的讲演通篇是夸夸其谈.
来自互联网
5. He also knows that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threat wipe Israel off the map is bombast.
