strut

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• intransitive verb To walk with pompous bearing; swagger.
• intransitive verb To display in order to impress others. Sometimes used with out.
• intransitive verb To provide (a structure) with a strut or struts.
• intransitive verb To brace or separate with a strut.
• noun A pompous, self-important gait.
• noun A structural element used to brace or strengthen a framework by resisting stress or compression.
• idiom (strut (one's) stuff) To behave or perform in an ostentatious manner; show off.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To swell; protuberate; bulge or spread out.
• To stand or walk stiffly with the tail erect and spread, as the peacock, the turkey, and various other birds.
• To walk with a pompous gait and erect head, as from pride or affected dignity.
• To cause to swell; enlarge; give more importance to.
• To protrude; cause to bulge.
• Swelling out; protuberant; bulging.
• noun A proud step or walk, with the head erect; affected dignity in walking.
• noun Stubbornness; obstinacy.
• noun Dispute; contention: strife.
• noun A condition (described in the quotation) of a freshly cut tobacco-plant, resulting from exposure to rain.
• noun In iron ship-building, a cast-steel or forged-iron support under water on each side at the stern of a twin-screw vessel close to the propeller. The strut usually has two arms resembling a V turned sidewise. At the apex of the V is a hub which contains a bearing through which the propeller-shaft passes, immediately abaft of which is the screw-propeller. The inner ends of the arms of the strut are riveted to the outside plating, or pass through it and are secured to the framing in the interior of the vessel. Also called shaft-strut and shaft-bracket.
• To brace or support by a strut or struts, in construction of any kind; hold in place or strengthen by an upright, diagonal, or transverse support.
• noun A brace or support for the reception of direct thrust, pressure, or weight in construction; any piece of wood or iron, or other member of a structure, designed to support a part or parts by pressure in the direction of its length, struts may be either upright, diagonal, or horizontal.

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

• adjective obsolete Protuberant.
• transitive verb To hold apart. Cf. strut, n., 3.
• transitive verb rare To swell; to bulge out.
• transitive verb To walk with a lofty, proud gait, and erect head; to walk with affected dignity.
• noun The act of strutting; a pompous step or walk.
• noun (Arch.) In general, any piece of a frame which resists thrust or pressure in the direction of its own length. See Brace, and Illust. of Frame, and Roof.
• noun (Engin.) Any part of a machine or structure, of which the principal function is to hold things apart; a brace subjected to compressive stress; -- the opposite of stay, and tie.

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

• noun A proud step or walk, with the head erect; affected dignity in walking.
• adjective archaic Swelling out; protuberant; bulging.
• noun A support rod.
• verb transitive (construction) To brace or support by a strut ot struts; hold in place or strengthen by an upright, diagonal, or transverse support.
• verb intransitive To swell; protuberate; bulge or spread out.
• verb intransitive (originally said of fowl) To stand or walk stiffly, with the tail erect and spread out.
• verb intransitive To walk proudly or haughtily.
• verb transitive, obsolete To cause to swell; enlarge; give more importance to.
• verb transitive To protrude; cause to bulge.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a proud stiff pompous gait
• verb to walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others
• noun brace consisting of a bar or rod used to resist longitudinal compression