Obs. Forms: α. 5 bouȝt, bowght, 6 boughte, bught(e, 4–7 bought; β. 6 bowt(e, 6–7 bout. [A comparatively late word (certain only from 15th c.); parallel in its senses to BIGHT, ME. byʓt, OE. byht; and corresp. in form and sense to MLG. bucht (whence modG. bucht, Du. bocht, Da. and Sw. bugt). The Eng. word may also have been from LG.; but more probably it arose out of an assimilation of byght to BOW v., or was itself formed from BOW on the pattern of byght, etc. (cf. Bucht in Grimm). When the guttural became weak or mute, bought began apparently to be associated with the adv. ’bout, about (see 2 b, quot. 1435), and in 16–17th c. was commonly spelt bout, whence, with special development of sense, the current BOUT, sb.2 q.v.]
† 1. A bend or curve; esp. a hollow angle or bend in the animal body. Cf. BIGHT 1. Obs.
α. 1519. Horman, Vulg., 25 b. There is a scabbe in the bought of myne arme [in ancone].
1530. Palsgr., 200/2. Bought of the arme, le ply du bras.
1551. Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., I. vii. To make a plumbe lyne … on the vtter or inner bughte [of a circle].
1610. Markham, Masterp., II. lxv. 327. Ouerthwart the very bought or inward bent of the knee.
1658. Franck, North. Mem. (1821), 159. On the bought of her near buttock was branded a remarkable patch.
β. 1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon. (1634), 40. If there be any crook or bout in the Belt.
1634. T. Johnson, Parey’s Chirurg., XVI. xxxiii. (1678), 364. If the elbow be dislocated … some put some round thing into the bout of the elbow.
† b. A bending in a coast-line, mountain-chain, etc. Cf. BIGHT 3. Obs.
α. 1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxiii. 222. They … met the baillol and his companye at an hongyng bought of the more.
β. 1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1331/2. To enter in at the great chanell of Middleborough by the bout of the foreland.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 643. In the very boute well neere of the shore.
1675. Pennsylv. Archives, I. 34. Over agt the Boute aboue Verdrick-teige-hooke.
† 2. The bend or loop of a rope, string or chain; the part between the ends or points of attachment (cf. BIGHT 2); the fold of a cloth, etc.; a turn or involution; also fig., and in comb. as bought-wise.
α. c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk. (1868), 129. Draw streight þy clothe, & ley þe bouȝt on þe vttur egge of þe table.
1570. Levins, Manip., 217. A Bought, plica.
1611. Bible, 1 Sam. xxv. 29, marg. In the midst of the bought of a sling.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farm, 712. Net … fastened bought-wise unto the end of a long pole.
β. 1562. Inv. Q. Mary’s Dresses, in Sat. Rev. (1863), 12 Dec., 764/2. [Fardingales … expanded by whalebones] bowtis of quhaill horne.
1575. Banister, Chyrurg., II. (1585), 279. Let it be tyed first with ij inuolutions or bowtes.
1632. Milton, L’Allegro (1863), 140. In notes, with many a winding bout Of linked sweetness long drawn out.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Life (1770), 113. One curl rising by degrees above another, and every bout tied with a small Ribband of a Naccarine.
† b. A coil, fold, or ‘knot’ formed by the body of a serpent, the tail of a horse, etc. Obs.
α. [c. 1300. K. Alis., 4712. Of theose bought was heore croune.]
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 558. Abowght the schyld he lappyd yt ther, Torrent the bowght asondyr schere.
1591. Spenser, Virg. Gnat, 255. He … wrapt his scalie boughts with fell despight.
1633. H. Cogan, Pinto’s Trav., xxxv. (1663), 140. An Adder of Brass, infolded into I know not how many boughts.
β. 1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 11. His huge long tayle … Whose wreathed bouts when euer he vnfoldes.
† 3. (cf. BOUGHT v.1 quot. 1521.) Obs.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., lxviii. The beme of that sterre was bryghter than the sonne and at the bouȝt of the beme appered a dragons hede. Ibid., lxix. The hede of the dragon that is seyn at the bought of the beem.
