egoboost

English

Etymology

From ego / ego- +‎ boost.

Noun

egoboost (plural egoboosts)

1. (informal) Something that makes one feel better about oneself.
   • 1953 November–December, Rog Phillips, “From This Dark Mind”, in Fantastic, volume 2, number 6, page 67:

     He showered and had a brief rub down in Physiotherapy, drank a cup of hot coffee gratefully that a student nurse had waiting for him, conscious of her worshipful eyes on him, knowing the cause of that worship, knowing that he was worthy of it. Egoboost, but well earned.

   • 1974 June, Dick Geis, “The Alien Viewpoint”, in If, page 106:

     “Tuckerizing” is a private, ‘inside’ thing, a way of expressing friendship and giving an egoboost to admired and respected people.

   • 1984, Shantha Krishnaswamy, “R.K. Narayan: Nightmare Comedy and the Ideology of Acceptance”, in The Woman in Indian Fiction in English (1950-80), New Delhi: Ashish Publishing House, page 131:

     Raju gets a niche in her heart precisely because of his appreciation of her art, an appreciation that she sorely needs as an egoboost.

   • 1998, Emma Tom, Babewatch, Sceptre, →ISBN, page 211:

     In an ideal world you would ask your girlfriend and your girlfriend would say no. What’s more, she would then go on to assure you that all other men are mere slugs compared to you, that you’re the best she’s ever had, that you’re hung like an Irish wolfhound blah blah egoboost blah. In real life, however, your stridently intelligent girlfriend will realise that suspicious minds stem from suspicious deeds and that it is actually you who is either having, or thinking about having, an affair.

   • 2000, William Bernhardt, Silent Justice, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 66:

     To commit an act so horrible, at least by the standards of contemporary society, an act so vilified, and to get totally and utterly away with it—well, one couldn’t help but get a little egoboost out of that.

   • 2001 May 15, George R. R. Martin, “The Game That Ate My Life”, in Wild Cards, Gollancz, published 2012, →ISBN, page 565:

     I loved the game, I loved all these wonderful characters that my friends and I had created, I loved the egoboost I got from my players after an especially exciting session … but I loved having a house to live in, too, which meant I had to keep making those pesky mortgage payments.

   • 2008, Bronwyn Scott, Pickpocket Countess, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 82:

     ‘Ah, the queen and her loyal subjects,’ Stockport remarked as if he’d found a chink in The Cat’s democratic armour. She knew what he thought. He thought this was an egoboost, a thrill of power, that The Cat did this as self-promotion. He couldn’t be more wrong.

   • 2011, Michael Z. Williamson, Rogue, Baen Books, →ISBN, page 145:

     I hated to think it was due to some self-aggrandizing cockholster clutching at power for an egoboost, so it was probably some petty little reg-wanker hoping that by enforcing “procedures” he’d make a name for himself.

   • 2011 January 11, Parmy Olson, “Rebel Member Of Anonymous Hacks Irish Opposition Party Site”, in Forbes‎^[1]:

     "An individual never just does it without supplying a reason, and an individual certainly doesn't put an alias in a hacked site as an egoboost."

   • 2021 December 14, “The Diamondback’s top 21 songs of 2021”, in The Diamondback‎^[2]:

     A crisp beat, a crazy catchy hook and memorable verses leave listeners struggling to stop themselves from dancing. It’s an instant egoboost. – Dylan Shulman, diversions editor

Translations

Translations

• Dutch: egoboost
• German: Egoboost
• Swedish: egoboost