windbag

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person who talks at excessive length, often pompously, while saying little of value

   The reform movement chose an eloquent windbag who made grand promises but proposed no workable policy.

Simplified etymology

Windbag is recorded from the late Middle Ages, but its comparable figurative sense of “an empty-headed person” dates from the early 19th century. The passage compares this development with that of Latin follis, “bellows, windbag,” which became the root of fool.

A compound of wind and bag, attested in late Middle English for an air-filled bag or an organ bellows. The image of a bag full of nothing but air produced the figurative sense 'a person who talks too much,' recorded from the early nineteenth century.

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