Definition of "bloviate" [blo•vi•ate]

• Slang To discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner: "the rural Babbitt who bloviates about 'progress' and 'growth'” ( George Rebeck). (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "He puts on no airs, doesn't "bloviate", and I give his late, dear wife credit for keeping him so grounded."
• "Although 'bloviate' is listed in slang dictionaries as far back as the 19th century, the term was popularized by President Warren G. Harding in the 1920s."
• "However, others like William Safire claim that 'bloviate' comes from combining the words 'blow-hard' and 'deviation.'"