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To swell or fill out; to pad; to inflate. [Obs.] Not bombasted with words vain ticklish ears to feed. Drayton.

Unavailing; in vain. See Bootless.

utish shape it can devise. Leigh Hunt. Man may . . . render himself brutish, but it is in vain that he would seek to take the rank and density of the brute. I. Taylor.

To make one's way by blows or struggling. Strove to buffet to land in vain. Tennyson.

he human figure, including the head, shoulders, and breast. Ambition sighed: she found it vain to trust The faithless column, and the crumbling bust. Pope.

Blind and absurd devotion to a fallen leader or an obsolete cause; hence, absurdly vainglorious or exaggerated patriotism. -- Chau"vin*ist, n. -- Chau`vin*is"tic (, a.

A vain, foolish, or incongruous fancy, or creature of the imagination; as, the chimera of an author. Burke.

Merely imaginary; fanciful; fantastic; wildly or vainly conceived; having, or capable of having, no existence except in thought; as, chimerical projects.

Wildy; vainly; fancifully.

a clear manner; plainly. Now clear I understand What oft . . . thoughts have searched in vain. Milton.

One who makes comparisons; one who affects wit. [Obs.] "Every beardless vain comparative." Shak.

Something added for ornamentation; an accessory. [Obs.] Without vain art or curious complements. Spenser.

Entertaining a flattering opinion of one's self; vain. If you think me too conceited Or to passion quickly heated. Swift. Conceited of their own wit, science, and politeness. Bentley.

pe. I am much consoled by the reflection that the religion of Christ has been attacked in vain by all the wits and philosophers, and its triumph has been complete. P. Henry.

exert one's self to obtain or retain possession of, or to defend. You sit above, and see vain men below Contend for what you only can bestow. Dryden.

, or of compelling the admission of a truth; confutation. For all his tedious talk is but vain boast, Or subtle shifts conviction to evade. Milton.

A vain, trifling woman, who endeavors to attract admiration from a desire to grafity vanity; a flirt; -- formerly sometimes applied also to men.

y were covered from our sight by the woods. A cloud covered the mount. Exod. xxiv. 15. In vain shou striv'st to cover shame with shame. Milton.

A vain, showy fellow; a conceited, silly man, fond of display; a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments; a fop. Fond to be seen, she kept a bevy Of powdered coxcombs at her levee. Goldsmith. Some are bewildered in the maze of schools, And some made coxcombs, nature meant but fools. Pope.…

To utter vain, pompous words; to brag; to boast; -- with of. [Archaic.] Ethoipes of their sweet complexion crack. Shak.