the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. A bravado; a boast.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. Bravado; defiance.
Word Usage
"Never were tragedy and triumph so intimately joined, as if Elaine’s pride in braving the worn and slippery stairs had been punished by the unseen forces that had sustained this unbalanced mass of masonry for so many centuries … …"