Proud (?), a. [Compar. Prouder (?); superl. Proudest.] [OE. proud, prout, prud, prut, AS. pr&umac;t; akin to Icel. pr&umac;&edh;r stately, handsome, Dan. prud handsome. Cf. Pride.]
1.
Feeling or manifesting pride, in a good or bad sense
; as: (a)
Possessing or showing too great self-esteem; overrating one's excellences; hence, arrogant; haughty; lordly; presumptuous.
Nor much expect
A foe so proud will first the weaker seek.
Milton.
O death, made proud with pure and princely beauty !
Shak.
And shades impervious to the proud world's glare.
Keble.
(b)
Having a feeling of high self-respect or self-esteem; exulting (in); elated; -- often with of; as, proud of one's country
. "
Proud to be checked and soothed."
Keble.
Are we proud men proud of being proud ?
Thackeray.
2.
Giving reason or occasion for pride or self-gratulation; worthy of admiration; grand; splendid; magnificent; admirable; ostentatious.
"Of shadow
proud."
Chapman. "
Proud titles."
Shak. " The
proud temple's height."
Dryden.
Till tower, and dome, and bridge-way proud
Are mantled with a golden cloud.
Keble.
3.
Excited by sexual desire; -- applied particularly to the females of some animals.
Sir T. Browne.
⇒ Proud is often used with participles in the formation of compounds which, for the most part, are self-explaining; as, proud-crested, proud-minded, proud-swelling.
Proud flesh Med., a fungous growth or excrescence of granulations resembling flesh, in a wound or ulcer.
© Webster 1913.