showboat

/ˌʃoʊˈboʊt/

/ˈʃʌʊbəʊt/

Other forms: showboating; showboated; showboats

A showboat is someone who loves to be the center of attention, like your cousin who uses every family get-together to demonstrate her tap dancing and baton-twirling abilities.

A showboat is a show-off on a grand scale, someone who very obviously wants attention. It's also a verb, often used for grandstanding athletes: "If you hadn't showboated while you were practicing your skateboard tricks, you probably wouldn't have broken your arm!" This "show-off" meaning derives from the original showboats, which were riverboat theaters that presented plays, vaudeville acts, and equestrian shows up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Definitions of showboat

1. noun

   a river steamboat on which theatrical performances could be given (especially on the Mississippi River)
   type of:

   river boat

   a boat used on rivers or to ply a river

   steamboat

   a boat propelled by a steam engine
2. noun

   someone who deliberately behaves in such a way as to attract attention
   synonyms: exhibitionist, show-off

   types:

   grandstander

   someone who performs with an eye to the applause from spectators in the grandstand

   hot dog, hotdog

   someone who performs dangerous stunts to attract attention to himself

   poser, poseur

   a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not

   poseuse

   a woman poseur

   type of:

   egoist, egotist, swellhead

   a conceited and self-centered person
3. verb

   attract attention onto oneself
   synonyms: take stage, take the stage