miles gloriosus

British  

/ ˈmiːleɪs ˌɡlɔːrɪˈəʊsʊs /

noun

1. a braggart soldier, esp as a stock figure in comedy

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Etymology

Origin of miles gloriosus

from the title of a comedy by Plautus

Example Sentences

Full of the pedantry of his profession and fond of noble phrases, he is a kind of cross between Dugald Dalgetty and Ancient Pistol, with a slight relish of the miles gloriosus.

From Among My Books First Series by Lowell, James Russell

Res gloriosa is an illustrious thing; but vir gloriosus is commonly a braggart, as in miles gloriosus.

From Lives of the Poets, Volume 1 by Johnson, Samuel

The conventional characters of Plautus and Terence, the senex, the servus, the meretrix, the mango, the ancilla, the miles gloriosus, and the parasitus reappeared.

From The Memoirs of Count Carlo Gozzi; Volume the First by Gozzi, Carlo

Roister smacks of the "miles gloriosus"; Merygreeke combines the vice with the Terentian rogue; and yet, when all is said, Udall's play remains a remarkably original production, realistic and English.

From John Lyly by Wilson, John Dover

His heroes had no scruples in proclaiming their physical advantages and athletic prowess; Charles O’Malley, that typical Galway miles gloriosus, introduces himself with ingenuous egotism in the following passage:

From Humours of Irish Life by Various