Pronounced: GUHST, noun
Notes: This word is NOT the meaning of a strong wind. Do you know it?
Yesterday’s word
The word swashbuckle means “to swagger, bluster, behave recklessly, etc”
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1800s
Background / Comments
Our word is another back-formation. Well over 300 years earlier than our word was the noun “swashbuckler” (one who makes a noise by striking a sword on a shield). That word came from swash (from the sound of a sword swishing through the air) and buckler (a small, round shield). The word buckler came from boucle (a boss on a shield), which came from the Latin word buccula, which is a diminutive of bucca (cheek).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 