boast vs puff

boast

verb
  • To brag; to talk loudly in praise of oneself. 

  • To speak of with pride, vanity, or exultation, with a view to self-commendation; to extol. 

  • To play a boast shot. 

  • To dress, as a stone, with a broad chisel. 

  • To possess something special (e.g. as a feature). 

  • To shape roughly as a preparation for the finer work to follow; to cut to the general form required. 

noun
  • A shot where the ball is driven off a side wall and then strikes the front wall. 

  • A brag; ostentatious positive appraisal of oneself. 

  • Something that one brags about. 

puff

verb
  • To praise with exaggeration; to flatter; to call public attention to by praises; to praise unduly. 

  • To inflate with pride, flattery, self-esteem, etc.; often with up. 

  • To cause to swell or dilate; to inflate. 

  • To emit smoke, gas, etc., in puffs. 

  • To swell with air; to be dilated or inflated. 

  • To blow as an expression of scorn. 

  • To repel with words; to blow at contemptuously. 

  • To pant. 

  • To breathe in a swelling, inflated, or pompous manner; hence, to assume importance. 

  • To drive with a puff, or with puffs. 

noun
  • A portion of fabric gathered up so as to be left full in the middle. 

  • A powder puff. 

  • A small quantity of gas or smoke in the air. 

  • A sudden but small gust of wind, smoke, etc. 

  • A light cake filled with cream, cream cheese, etc. 

  • A puffball. 

  • A region of a chromosome exhibiting a local increase in diameter. 

  • Synonym of poof: a male homosexual, especially an effeminate one. 

  • The drug cannabis. 

  • A flamboyant or alluring statement of praise. 

  • The ability to breathe easily while exerting oneself. 

  • A sharp exhalation of a small amount of breath through the mouth. 

  • An act of inhaling smoke from a cigarette, cigar or pipe. 

How often have the words boast and puff occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )