strut

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To walk with pompous bearing; swagger.
2. v. To display in order to impress others. Sometimes used with out: Don't strut out your resume until you have more accomplishments to list.
3. v. To provide (a structure) with a strut or struts.
4. v. To brace or separate with or as if with a strut.
5. n. A pompous, self-important gait.
6. n. A structural element used to brace or strengthen a framework by resisting longitudinal compression.
7. idiom. strut (one's) stuff Slang To behave or perform in an ostentatious manner; show off.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To swell; protuberate; bulge or spread out.
2. To stand or walk stiffly with the tail erect and spread, as the peacock, the turkey, and various other birds. It is characteristic of the male in the breeding-season. See showing-off, 2, and cuts under peafowl and turkey.
3. To walk with a pompous gait and erect head, as from pride or affected dignity.
4. To cause to swell; enlarge; give more importance to.
5. To protrude; cause to bulge.
6. n. A proud step or walk, with the head erect; affected dignity in walking.
7. n. Stubbornness; obstinacy.
8. n. Dispute; contention: strife.
9. Swelling out; protuberant; bulging.
10. n. 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. The struts of a roof extend obliquely from a rafter to a king-post or queen-post. Diagonal struts are also used between joists, in gates, etc. Also called stretching-piece. See cuts under roof, queen-post, and floor.
11. 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.
12. n. A condition (described in the quotation) of a freshly cut tobacco-plant, resulting from exposure to rain.
13. n. 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.

Wiktionary

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

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. rare To swell; to bulge out.
2. v. To walk with a lofty, proud gait, and erect head; to walk with affected dignity.
3. n. The act of strutting; a pompous step or walk.
4. n. (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.
5. n. (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.
6. v. To hold apart. Cf. strut, n., 3.
7. adj. obsolete Protuberant.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a proud stiff pompous gait
2. v. to walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others
3. n. brace consisting of a bar or rod used to resist longitudinal compression