Stout
Pronunciation
- IPA: /staÊŠt/
- Rhymes: -aÊŠt
Origin
From Middle English stout, from Old French estout ("brave, fierce, proud") (Modern French dialectal stout ("proud")), earlier estolt ("strong"), from Proto-Germanic *stultaz ("proud, stately, stiff"), from Proto-Germanic *stil-, *stal-, *stul- ("to be solid, stationary, firm, stiff"), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- ("to put, stand"); cognate with Dutch stout ("stout, bold, rash"), Low German stolt ("stately, proud"), German stolz ("proud, haughty, arrogant, stately"), Old Norse stoltr ("proud") (Danish stolt ("proud"), Icelandic stoltur ("proud")). Meaning "strong in body, powerfully built" is attested from c.1386, but has been to a large extent displaced by the euphemistic meaning "thick-bodied, fat and large," which is first recorded 1804. Original sense preserved in stout-hearted (1552). The noun "strong, dark-brown beer" is first recorded 1677, from the adjective.
Full definition of stout
Adjective
stout
- large; bulky, thickset; corpulent, fat.
- (obsolete) bold, strong-minded; lusty; vigorous; robust; sinewy; muscular.
- Shakespearea stouter champion never handled sword
- ClarendonHe lost the character of a bold, stout, magnanimous man.
- DanielThe lords all stand
To clear their cause, most resolutely stout. - (obsolete) proud; haughty; arrogant; hard.
- Bible, Mal. iii. 13Your words have been stout against me.
- LatimerCommonly ... they that be rich are lofty and stout.
- firm; resolute; dauntless.
- materially strong, enduring.Campers prefer stout vessels, sticks and cloth.
- 1913, w, Lord Stranleigh Abroad Chapter 4, Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins … .
- obstinate.