to blow one's own trumpet
Preserved but no longer current.
To publish one's own praises, good deeds, etc. The allusion is to heralds, who used to announce with a flourish of trumpets the knights who entered a list. Similarly, your trumpeter is dead means that you are obliged to sound your own praises because no one will do it for you.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to blow one's own trumpet” mean?
To publish one's own praises, good deeds, etc. The allusion is to heralds, who used to announce with a flourish of trumpets the knights who entered a list. Similarly, your trumpeter is dead means that you are obliged to sound your own praises because no one will do it for you.
Is “to blow one's own trumpet” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.