stout Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a strong very dark heavy-bodied ale made from pale malt and roasted unmalted barley and (often) caramel malt with hops
noun a garment size for a large or heavy person
adjective satellite dependable
stalwart.
- the stalwart citizens at Lexington
- a stalwart supporter of the UN
- stout hearts
adjective satellite euphemisms for `fat'
portly.
- men are portly and women are stout
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

D. stout bold (or OF. estout bold, proud, of Teutonic origin); akin to AS. stolt, G. stolz, and perh. to E. stilt.

comparative Stouter ; superlative Stoutest

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.
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.
Firm; tough; materially strong; enduring; as, a stout vessel, stick, string, or cloth.
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.