Stout1, a.
a. [compar. STOUTER; superl. STOUTEST.] [O. Fr. & Pr. estout, estot, bold, from L. Ger., Dan., & Sw. stolt, Icel. stoltr, O. Fries. stult, D. stout, O. & N. H. Ger. stolz, bold, stout, proud.] 1. Strong; lusty; vigorous; robust. A stouter champion never handled sword. Shak. 2. Bold; intrepid; valiant; brave. He lost the character of a bold, stout, magnanimous man. Clarendon.
- Big in stature; large; bulky. [Colloq.]
- Proud; resolute; obstinate.
The lords all stand to clear their cause, Most resolutely stout. Daniel. ☞ Stout is sometimes used in forming compounds of very obvious signification; as, stout-built, stout-hearted, stout-made, and the like. Syn.—STOUT, CORPULENT. 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, &c. At a later period it was used for thick-set 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.” Few in America entirely drop the original sense of strong and bold; and many who have read Washington Irving’s story of the “Stout Gentleman,” never suspected that he was merely a very fat man.