stout Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a strong very dark heavy-bodied ale made from pale malt and roasted unmalted barley and (often) caramel malt with hops
  2. noun a garment size for a large or heavy person
  3. adjective satellite dependable
    stalwart.
    • the stalwart citizens at Lexington
    • a stalwart supporter of the UN
    • stout hearts
  4. adjective satellite euphemisms for `fat'
    portly.
    • men are portly and women are stout
  5. adjective satellite having rugged physical strength; inured to fatigue or hardships
    hardy; stalwart; sturdy.
    • hardy explorers of northern Canada
    • proud of her tall stalwart son
    • stout seamen
    • sturdy young athletes

WordNet


Stout adjective
Etymology
D. stout bold (or OF. estout bold, proud, of Teutonic origin); akin to AS. stolt, G. stolz, and perh. to E. stilt.
Wordforms
comparative Stouter ; superlative Stoutest
Definitions
  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. 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 noun
Definitions
  1. A strong malt liquor; strong porter. Famous Guiness' stout. Swift.

Webster 1913