Rodomontade

Rodomontade \rod-uh-muhn-TADE; roh-duh-muhn-TAHD\ is a mass noun meaning boastful talk or behavior. The term is a reference to Rodomonte, a character in Italian Renaissance epic poems Orlando innamorato and its sequel Orlando furioso.[1]

Examples of use

They [the free trappers] pronounced the captain the finest fellow in the world, and his men all bon garçons, jovial lads, and swore they would pass the day with them. They did so, and a day it was, of boast, and swagger, and rodomontade.
Nonsense: his rhodomontades probably bore you as much as they do me, but don't do anything silly under the stress of that.
The best those commentators could do who appeared on the MacNeil - Lehrer program was to quote an imprudent remark by Gordon Liddy, but what he said — that if any official came to his house to requisition his pistol, he'd better shoot straight — was more rodomontade than a call to arms or hatred.[2]

References

  1. ^ Definition and history from World Wide Words
  2. ^ What does Clinton have in mind?, a 1995 National Review column using the term, via FindArticles.com