Etymology A frequentative form of swag (“to sway”), first attested in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595), see quotations.
1
To behave (especially to walk or carry oneself) in a pompous, superior manner.
What hempen home-ſpuns haue we ſwaggering here, / So neere the Cradle of the Faierie Queene?c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 152, column 1:
He is a political humbug, the greatest of all humbugs; a man who swaggers about London clubs and consults solemnly about his influence, and in the country is a nonentity.1845, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XI, in Sybil; or The Two Nations. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, book II, page 235:
2
To boast or brag noisily; to bluster; to bully.
To be great is not […] to swagger at our footmen.1698, Jeremy Collier, A Moral Essay upon Pride:
For the common Soldier when he goes to the Market or Ale-house will offer this Money, and if it be refused, perhaps he will SWAGGER and HECTOR, and Threaten to Beat the BUTCHER or Ale-Wife, or take the Goods by Force, and throw them the bad HALF-PENCE.1724, “The Drapier’s Letters”, in Dublin and London, Jonathan Swift, published 1730, Letter 1, p. 14:
1 more example
“They say there’s something wrong with our president!” Mr. Trump swaggered at his indoor Tulsa rally in June,[…]2020, Matt Flegenheimer, “A President’s Positive Test and the Year That Won’t Let Up”, in The New York Times:
3
To walk with a swaying motion.
It's the injustice… he is so unjust— whiskey-blind, swaggering home at five.1959, Robert Lowell, “To Speak of Woe That Is in Marriage”, in Life Studies:
Etymology A frequentative form of swag (“to sway”), first attested in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595), see quotations.
1
Confidence, pride.
After spending so much of the season looking upwards, the swashbuckling style and swagger of early season Spurs was replaced by uncertainty and frustration against a Norwich side who had the quality and verve to take advantage2012 April 9, Mandeep Sanghera, “Tottenham 1 - 2 Norwich”, in BBC Sport:
2
A bold or arrogant strut.
He steered with no end of a swagger while you were by; but if he lost sight of you, he became instantly the prey of an abject funk, and would let that cripple of a steamboat get the upper hand of him in a minute.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I:
3
A prideful boasting or bragging.
Too often we honor swagger and bluster and the wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their lives on the shattered dreams of others.1968, Robert F. Kennedy, On the Mindless Menace of Violence:
It is to be a very swagger affair, with notables from every part of Europe, and they seem determined that no one connected with a newspaper shall be admitted.1899, Robert Barr, Jennie Baxter, Journalist:
15 March, 1896, Ernest Rutherford, letter to Mary Newton Mrs J.J. [Thomson] looked very well and was dressed very swagger and made a very fine hostess.
1 more example
Mrs. Morton was well known for her Americanisms, her swagger dinner parties, and beautiful Paris gowns.1908, Baroness Orczy, The Old Man in the Corner:
There were now more swaggers passing down Ferry Street and more coming to ask for food […].1982, Janet Frame, An Angel at my Table, Virago, published 2024, page 25:
She looked down in her half-dreaming state and thought they might be swaggers. There were lots of them that year, camped out on the riverbank netting for whitebait, then fanning out around the streets selling their catch door to door.2017, Fiona Farrell, Decline and Fall on Savage Street, →ISBN, page 66: