Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A blustering, bullying fellow; a pot-valiant braggart; a bully.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A blustering, bullying fellow; a bully.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

After Draw-Can-Sir, a character in George Villiers' play The Rehearsal.

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Examples

  • If seriously, he must challenge the prince; but in so doing he might fix on himself the character of a drawcansir.

    The Life of Oliver Goldsmith 2004

  • But to leave the criticisms of this literary drawcansir to that oblivion to which they seem to be rapidly hastening, let us examine the merits of Barry in some of those characters in which he was universally allowed to excel; and on this scale we must give the preference to Othello.

    The Mirror of Taste, and Dramatic Censor, Vol. I, No. 4, April 1810

  • The large stage blusterer and ostentatious drawcansir were never, in Lamb's estimation, models for heroes.

    Charles Lamb Cornwall, Barry 1866

  • Let the affair once take that shape, and immediately the fantastic notions of what Southern men call chivalry, which infest the brain of this old drawcansir, will push him forward as a candidate.

    The Partisan Leader: A Novel... 1862

  • If seriously, he must challenge the prince; but in so doing he might fix on himself the character of a drawcansir.

    Oliver Goldsmith Irving, Washington 1849

  • The large stage blusterer and ostentatious drawcansir were never, in Lamb's estimation, models for heroes.

    Charles Lamb Barry Cornwall 1830

  • If seriously, he must challenge the prince; but in so doing he might fix on himself the character of a drawcansir.

    Oliver Goldsmith A Biography Washington Irving 1821

  • The arrogant nephew and his two drawcansir uncles appeared so completely cased in steel that they and their steeds were like moving masses of iron.

    The Crayon Papers Washington Irving 1821

  • Under his tuition, the young French chevaliers began to add bluster and arrogance to their former petulance and levity; they fired up on the most trivial occasions, particularly with those who had been most successful with the fair; and would put on the most intolerable drawcansir airs.

    Wolfert's Roost and Miscellanies Washington Irving 1821

  • I have not the least inclination to be so outrageous a drawcansir in my love affairs!

    Biographia Literaria Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1803

Comments

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  • n., someone who kills/injures both friend and foe. From the name of a blustering, bragging character in George Villiers' burlesque play The Rehearsal, who in the last scene is made to enter a battle and kill all the combatants on both sides. (His name might be intended to suggest drawing a can of liquor, as there are references to his drinking capacity in the fourth act.)

    July 9, 2008

  • At length my antagonist came in sight. I took a few strides, such as bully Mars or Bellona might have taken; but I do not know how the devil it came to pass, my courage went further off as my body came nearer; my frame was contracted within somewhat less than its human dimensions, and my heart felt exactly like the heart of a coward. The hearts of Homer's heroes felt exactly the same, when the dastardly dogs were not backed by a supernatural drawcansir! In short, I was just as much out of my element as ever Paris was, when he pitted himself against Menelaus in single combat.

    - Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 7 ch. 1

    September 20, 2008

  • The search for an image enhancer
    Produces that tedious answer:
    He'll burnish his lustre
    With boasting and bluster
    And voters will pick the drawcansir.

    July 31, 2014