Forms: 3–4 stur(e, 4–9 stoure, stowre, 5 store, (6 stourre), 5–8 stowr, 6–9 stower, 8–9 stoor, 4– stour. [a. AF. estur, OF. estour (N.E. dial. stour), estor, estorn = Pr. estorn-s, It. stormo tumult, conflict, a. Teut. *sturmo-z STORM sb. The etymological identity of senses 4 and 6 with the other senses is doubtful.]
I. 1. An armed combat or conflict; esp. a contest in battle; a fight. Obs. exc. arch.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7466. A man o þair gains an of vr, If vrs mai him win in stur [other texts stoure, stour(e)s]. Ibid., 7752–3. Gain saul þai gaf batail strang…. In hard strur [read stur] þai samen mett. Ful snaip it was þair stur and snell.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom., 23. Bot werdes haht and hey tures Getes thir cite men fra stures.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 730. Lordynges … þat fledde fro þe grete stour.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Monk’s T., 380. She that helmed was in starke stoures [Ellesm. shoures] And wan by force townes stronge and toures.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, Prol. 28. Now of Troy forto telle … Of the stoure & þe stryffe when it distroyet was.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. civ. (1869), 113. I am ladi and … constablesse of alle stoures in cheuachyes, ther as baners ben desplayed.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, i. 42. Moche grete and merueyllouse was the stoure, and the bataill soo fyers.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxvi. 26. The quhilk, with mony bludy woundis, in stour, Victoriusly discomfeit the dragoun.
1592. Wyrley, Armorie, Ld. Chandos, i. Prooued knights In martial feats and battelous stoure.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., XVI. 69. Those braue spirits in all those balefull stowres, That with Duke Robert went against the Pagan powers.
1667. J. M‘Kenzie, in Highland Papers (S.H.S., 1916), II. 22. Both parties met wt a terrible stour fighting handsomlie on both sides.
1803. W. S. Rose, Amadis de Gaul, 96.
| Man to man, | |
| And horse to horse oppos’d, the stower began. |
1808. Scott, Marmion, IV. xxxii. When joins yon host in deadly stowre. Ibid. (1816), Old Mort., xxxvii. ‘Then ye saw a bonny stour,’ said Cuddie, ‘that sall serve me for fighting a’ the days of my life.’
1846. Prowett, Prometheus Bound, 21. Whose pointed lances on their foes Bear down the battle’s stour.
1904. J. Parkinson, Lays of Love & War, 81. War unto him is his birthright, The stour of the battle his breath.
† b. Phrases. Stiff, stith, strong in stour; also rarely good, fast, bold in stour. Obs.
a. 1300, a. 1366[?]. [see STIFF a. 12].
a. 1300–1400. [see STITH a. 6].
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 6. A stiffe knyght in stoure. Ibid., 213. Edward & Edmunde, knyght gode in stoure.
a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., lv. 37. Þer nis non so strong in stour,… From þat day forþ,… Of his strengþe he leost a quantite.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 1655. Welcom, sir knyght, That fast art in stoure.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xxv. 131. He is … of so mekill myght, And styf in euery stoure.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxvii. 33. The Bruce, that euir was bold in sto[u]r. Ibid. (1508), vii. 9. Welcum in stour most strong, incomparable knight.
[1857. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., II. 352. The Danes were very stiff in the stour.]
† 2. fig. a. Conflict with death, death-struggle, esp. in hard, death-stour, bale-stour (see BALE sb.1 8). Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 15647. Quen suete o blod vt of him brast, þat sua on erth fell. Quen he was risen vt o þis sture til his felaus come he.
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 1838. Þe payn of þe dede … Þat es þe hard stour at þe last ende, When þe saule sal fra þe body wende. Ibid., 5812. I yhelde my saul in þis dede stour Til þe Loverd.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 5374. Þai prayed þe confessour To bring þat man oute of þat stour.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, 5161. Deith … Quham wysedome may nocht contramand, Nor strenth that stoure may nocht ganestand!
† b. A conflict waged with immaterial weapons; a struggle with pain or adversity. Obs.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 111. Whan þai þole mekill’ in stoures, Tene and tray of tormentoures, To sere men þaire sufferynge Is ensample of gude lyuynge.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiv. 497. In strong stowre now ar we sted; what may we say?
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 47. Honorious of Rome the emprioure, That tyme with seiknes staid wes in ane stour.
a. 1536. Songs, Carols, etc. (E.E.T.S.), 68. Styfly to stond in euery stowr Agaynst the fende & all his methe.
1585. Fetherstone, trans. Calvin on Acts xiii. 8. 296. The same stoure haue we at this day with a number of brablers.
1686. J. Renwick, Lett., 18 Feb., in Life Biog. Presbyt. (1827), II. 276. The Lord … hath helped you to stand with a poor despised Party in many Stours for his Interest.
1807–10. Tannahill, Poems (1846), 48. Thus youth and vigour fends itsel’; While dowless eild, in poortith cauld Is lanely left to stand the stoure.
† 3. Used by Spenser and his imitators for: Time of turmoil and stress. Obs.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Jan., 51. And eke tenne thousand sithes I blesse the stoure [Glossed by E. K. a fitt], Wherein I sawe so fayre a sight, as shee. Ibid., May, 156. When approchen the stormie stowres. Ibid. (1590), F. Q., I. ii. 7. Then gan she waile and weepe, to see that woefull stowre. Ibid., III. ii. 6. I haue beene trained vp in warlike stowre. Ibid., IV. ix. 39. But thus turmoild from one to other stowre, I wast my life.
1597. Bp. Hall, Sat., II. iii. 35. So haue I seene in a tempestuous stowre, Some breer-bush shewing shelter from the showre.
1620. Quarles, Feast for Worms, Med. ii. D 2 b. God … shield all good men from such stormy stowre.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, I. i. 53, Wks. (Grosart), 18/53. And shall not he … rise, and in his wrathfull stour … quell the haughty enemy.
1742. Shenstone, Schoolmistr., xix. All, all but He, the Author or it’s Shame,… regret it’s ruthful Stour.
1767. Mickle, Concub., I. xxxi. Now to the Goal they fly—in franticke Stowre.
1811. H. MacNeill, Bygane Times, 49. When wives and dochters, without thrift … can mak nae shift To screen themsels frae tempest’s stour.
† b. Used by Greene, Lodge, and others, probably by misapprehension of Spenser, for: Occasion, place. Obs.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, A a iij b. When ye Græcians were in suspence, whether to march on to giue onset of battaile, at the same stoure, drad flakes of lightning fire were darted down from heauen.
1589. Lodge, Scillaes Metam., A 4 b. Clore she gathered Amaranthus flower, And Nais Aiax blossom in that stowre.
1589. Greene, Menaphon, Melicertus Ecl., 39. He chose her chinne; and from that happie stowre He neuer stints in glorie to appeare. Ibid. (1590), Never too Late, Palmer’s Verses, 41. The birds at euerie stowre Do tempt the heauens with harmonie diuine.
1595. Locrine, II. v. 111. For Strumbo the cobler At this same stoure, at this very houre, Lies dead on the ground.
1600. Lodge, in England’s Helicon, E 1 b. Oft from her lap at sundry stoures, He leapt, and gathered Sommer flowres.
4. Tumult, uproar; commotion, fuss. Now Sc. and dial.
[Perhaps partly a variant of STIR sb.2; cf. the γ forms of STIR v.]
c. 1440. Bone Flor., 1659. Sche glyste up wyth the hedeows store, A sorowfull wakenyng had sche thore.
1570. Levins, Manip., 175/9. A stoore, commotio, turbatio.
1724. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), III. 116. I see he is to take Bishop Burnet in task;… and I am content I have so masterly a writer … some way to stand betwixt me and the stour, so to say.
c. 1730. Ramsay, Masque, 197. Minerva mim, for a’ your mortal stoor, Ye shall with billy Bacchus fit the floor.
1833. G. N. Brown, York Minster Screen, 150 (E.D.S. No. 76). An t’ bairns all roo’red to see their moother roore, Ah nivver i my life seed sike a stoore.
1879. T. Hardy, Wessex Tales (1889), 262. Oh, there’s such a stoor, Mrs. Newberry…! The king’s excisemen can’t get the carts ready nohow at all!
1915. Sir J. Wilson, Lowland Scotch in Lower Strathearn, 206. Sic a stoor uboot naything.
b. A storm; esp. a driving storm. Sc. and north.
1827. J. Wilson, Noct. Ambr., I. 278. The other horse grows obstinate wi’ the sharp stour in his face.
a. 1878. H. Ainslie, Pilgr. Land Burns, etc. (1892), 218. Then look, ere midnight’s past For a stour frae the nor-wast.
1891. Atkinson, Moorland Parish, 362. It would have been alike impossible to see or read [the burial service] in such a fierce, savage stour; and the sharp, hard sleet and roughened snow were driven against … my neck and face.
II. 5. Flying dust raised by the rapid movement of a person or things, or by the wind; hence a deposit of dust; also dust from material undergoing mechanical treatment. Sc. and north.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 61. Sa began the grete bataill sa vigorous, that the stour strake in the hevin of the crueltee of that mortall bataill.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, VII. 579. The strang stour rais, as reik, vpon thaim fast. Ibid., X. 29. The tothir ost mycht nocht no dedis se, For stour at rais.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. xi. 57. The dusty pouder vp dryvand wyth a stour. Ibid., IX. ii. 3. The Troianis … A dusty sop vprysand gan do se, Full thik of stour vp thringand in the ayr.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), II. 39. The battellis ioynit so cruellie that they might nocht be sene for the stour and reik of poullder.
1786. Burns, To Mountain Daisy, i. For I maun crush amang the stoure Thy slender stem.
1808. J. Mayne, Siller Gun, II. 121. Alang the roads it left out-ower ye Sic clouds o’ stour, Ye coudna see yer thumb before ye.
1836. Carlyle, in Academy Suppl., 17 Sept. (1898), 272/1. The huge smoke and stour of that tumultuous Manchester.
1894. Crockett, Lilac Sunbonnet, 46. Ye couldna see his legs or coat-tails for stour as he gaed roon’.
1905. Sir H. Maxwell, in Blackw. Mag., Jan., 120/2. Down she went on her knees to blow aside a pile of white peat ‘stour’ (ashes) which lay on the hearth.
† b. A cloud of spray. Sc. Obs. rare.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, III. vi. 130. The large fludis suppis thrise in ane swelth, And wther quhilis spowtis in the air agane, Drivand the stour to the sternis, as it war rane.
1822. H. Ainslie, Pilgr. Land of Burns, 179. The siller stour That bowses frae the linn.
c. Phrases. (Sc.) Like stour: very swiftly or vigorously. To blow, cast, throw stour in one’s eyes: fig. (cf. DUST sb.1 4). To kick up, make, raise a stour: to raise a dust; fig., to make a disturbance or fuss.
a. 1788. Burns, ‘O Tibbie, I hae seen the day,’ ii. Yestreen I met ye on the moor, Ye spak na, but gaed by like stoure.
1870. J. K. Hunter, Life Studies of Char., 135. Thoo sees I am preachin’ awa’ here like storr.
1894. Crockett, Raiders (ed. 3), 322. I saw our men … drive like stour across the yard and in at the open gate.
1823. Galt, R. Gilhaize, xv. My grandfather being eager to throw stour in his eyes.
1883. R. Cleland, Inchbracken, xviii. 136. Do you tak me for a fule, to think ye’re to blaw the stour i’ my e’en that gate?
1786. Burns, Ordination, iii. This day the Kirk kicks up a stoure.
1837. R. Nicoll, Poems (1843), 179. Wha raised at Marston such a stour And made the tyrants fear folk?
1896. A. Lilburn, Borderer, xxii. 169. Tschuh, tschuh, tscha, oh confound you and yer brush together…! Kicking up such a stour.
1897. Beatty, Secretar, xviii. 154. What gars ye mak sic a stour at sic a time?
† 6. To stour: ? to the ground. Obs.–1
c. 1557. Abp. Parker, Ps. lxxx. 13. Why hast thou beat his closure downe…?… The tushy bore … doth route it vp to stoure.
