strut

strut vb Strut, swagger, bristle, bridle can all mean to assume an air of dignity or importance.

Strut implies a pompous or theatrical affectation of dignity, especially as shown in one's gait or by one's bearing in movement

{

a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage— Shak.

}

{

Dr. Goldsmith . . . went... strutting away and calling to me with an air of superiority— Boswell

}

Swagger implies ostentation, a conviction of one's superiority, and, often, an insolent or overbearing gait or manner

{

scarcely deigned to set a foot to ground, but swaggered like a lord about his hall— Dryden

}

{

what a swaggering puppy must he take me for— Goldsmith

}

Bristle implies an aggressive manifestation sometimes of anger or of zeal but often of an emotion or desire that causes one to display conspicuously one's sense of dignity or importance

{

all the time he stuck close to her, bristling with a small boy's pride of her— D. H. Lawrence

}

{

the bourgeoisie, bristling with prejudices and social snobberies— Rose Macaulay

}

Bridle usually suggests awareness of a threat to one's dignity or state and a reaction (as of hostility, protest, scorn, or resentment) typically expressed by a lofty manner with a tossing up of one's head and a drawing in of one's chin

{

by her bridling up I perceived she expected to be treated hereafter not as Jenny Distaff, but Mrs. Tranquillus— Tatler

}

{

everything that poses, prances, bridles, struts, bedizens, and plumes itself— Ward

}

{

military commanders who had bridled against ... interference— Time

}

Analogous words: expose, exhibit, flaunt, parade (see SHOW vb)

Contrasted words: cringe, cower, *fawn, truckle: grovel (see WALLOW)