Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of 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.
\Stout\, n. A strong malt liquor; strong porter.