windbag

[ wind-bag ]

/ ˈwɪndˌbæg /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR windbag ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Informal. an empty, voluble, pretentious talker.

the bag of a bagpipe.

Nearby words

Origin of windbag

late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at wind¹, bag

Related formswind·bag·ger·y, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for windbag

He can still come off like a windbag with a know-it-all air.
The Resurrection of Newt Gingrich|Howard Kurtz|October 18, 2011|DAILY BEAST
The hour of all windbags does arrive; every windbag is at length ripped and collapses.
Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources|James Wood
He was admonished, but stood impenitent, and even "called the worthy magistrate a windbag and a sham."
Thomas Carlyle|Hector Carsewell Macpherson
In his letters during this period, everyone who differs from him is denounced as a charlatan and a windbag.
Schopenhauer|Margrieta Beer

And Mr. Spurgeon was no windbag—vox et præterea nihil; no darling pet of old women whose Christianity was flabby as an oyster.
Christopher Crayon's Recollections|J. Ewing Ritchie
For our Phineas Finn was a young man not without sense,—not entirely a windbag.
Phineas Finn|Anthony Trollope

British Dictionary definitions for windbag

windbag

/ (ˈwɪndˌbæɡ) /

noun

slang a voluble person who has little of interest to communicate

the bag in a set of bagpipes, which provides a continuous flow of air to the pipes

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for windbag

windbag

late 15c., "bellows for an organ," from wind (n.1) + bag (n.). Figurative sense of "person who talks too much" is attested from 1827.

windbag

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of windbag

Examples from the Web for windbag

windbag

noun

windbag