Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—B

Brag

A game at cards: so called because the players brag of their cards to induce the company to make bets. The principal sport of the game is occasioned by any player bragging that he holds a better hand than the rest of the party, which is declared by saying “I brag,” and staking a sum of money on the issue. (Hoyle.)

Brag is a good dog, but Holdfast is a better.
Talking is all very well, but doing is far better. Jack Brag. A vulgar, pretentious braggart, who gets into aristocratic society, where his vulgarity stands out in strong relief. The character is in Theodore Hook's novel of the same name.

“He was a sort of literary Jack Brag.” —T. H. Burton.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Braggadochio
Bradwardine
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