Stout \Stout\, a. [Compar. Stouter; superl. Stoutest.]
[D.
stout bold (or OF. estout bold, proud, of Teutonic origin);
akin to AS. stolt, G. stolz, and perh. to E. stilt.]
1. Strong; lusty; vigorous; robust; sinewy; muscular; hence,
firm; resolute; dauntless.
With hearts stern and stout. --Chaucer.
A stouter champion never handled sword. --Shak.
He lost the character of a bold, stout, magnanimous
man. --Clarendon.
The lords all stand To clear their cause, most
resolutely stout. --Daniel.
2. Proud; haughty; arrogant; hard. [Archaic]
Your words have been stout against me. --Mal. iii.
13.
Commonly . . . they that be rich are lofty and
stout. --Latimer.
3. Firm; tough; materially strong; enduring; as, a stout
vessel, stick, string, or cloth.
4. Large; bulky; corpulent.
Syn: Stout, Corpulent, Portly.
Usage: Corpulent has reference simply to a superabundance or
excess of flesh. Portly implies a kind of stoutness or
corpulence which gives a dignified or imposing
appearance. Stout, in our early writers (as in the
English Bible), was used chiefly or wholly in the
sense of strong or bold; as, a stout champion; a stout
heart; a stout resistance, etc. At a later period it
was used for thickset or bulky, and more recently,
especially in England, the idea has been carried still
further, so that Taylor says in his Synonyms: ``The
stout man has the proportions of an ox; he is
corpulent, fat, and fleshy in relation to his size.''
In America, stout is still commonly used in the
original sense of strong as, a stout boy; a stout
pole.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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