STOUT

stout. Stout, a. strong, valiant, brave, resolute; n. strong

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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. 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. 2. Proud; haughty; arrogant; hard.
Your words have been stout against me. Mal. iii. 13. Commonly . . . they that be rich are lofty and stout. Latimer. 3. 3. Firm; tough; materially strong; enduring; as, a stout vessel, stick, string, or cloth.
4. 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.