name-dropping

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

name-dropping
    n 1: the practice of casually mentioning important people in
         order to impress your listener; "the hard thing about name-
         dropping is to avoid being too obvious about it"

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

name-dropping \name-dropping\ n.
   The practice of casually mentioning important people in order
   to impress one's listener.
   [WordNet 1.5]

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