[f. STOUT a.]
† 1. intr. To be defiant; to act in a defiant or stubborn manner. Obs.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3403. And ȝyf he yn folye begynne to stoute, Þan bereþ he þe deuylys baner aboute. Ibid., 10923. Lewed man, þou shalt cursyng doute, And to þy prest þou shalt nat stoute. Ibid. (c. 1330), Chron. Wace (Rolls), 6361, note. For Conan gan þat oþer rebuk, & reuiled [v.r. Conan stouted] hym wyþ wordes þore.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut., lxi. 366. They fall to stouting against him.
1616. J. Lane, Contn. Sqr.’s T., VII. 193. His silken standard … which blazd a lion, pard, and prowlinge beare, in a feild gules. These on thigh bullwarcke stowted.
2. quasi-trans. a. † To stout it = sense 1. Obs.
1570. Marr. Wit & Sci., IV. i. C iij b. Nay you must stoute it, and face it out with the best.
a. 1624. Bp. M. Smith, Serm., i. (1632), 5. For all our vilenesse … we will not be acknowne of it, but contrariwise stout it with him and beard him. Ibid., vii. 130. Others made it their care to strowt it, and to stout it, and to braue it in costly apparell.
1644. Prynne, Check to Britannicus, 5. If they by his own sentence (though penitent) endured the halter, I am certaine he still stouting it, much more deserues the Axe.
1670. T. Brooks, Wks. (1867), VI. 372. None stout it against Jesus Christ as hypocrites do.
b. To stout it out: to persist in a defiant attitude, e.g., when detected in a falsehood, or when hard pressed; to ‘brave it out.’ Now rare.
a. 1639. W. Whateley, Prototypes, I. xi. (1640), 105. O that we could be so desirous of unity, not stouting it out as many do.
1644. Prynne & Walker, Fiennes’ Trial, 93. The Defendant was so far from this fault of stouting it out over-long; that he deserves to lose his head for yeelding Bristol up too soone.
1650. Trapp, Comm. Lev. xxvi. 23. The wicked refuse to receiv corrections:… they stout it out, and will not stoop.
1658. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., II. verse 15. vi. § 3. 366. He will not debase his Sovereignty to treat with a wretch that stands to his armes, and stouts it out with him.
1690. C. Nesse, Hist. & Myst. O. & N. Test., I. 145. They had stubbornly stouted it out with God.
1848. Eliza Gurney, in A. J. C. Hare, Gurneys of Earlham (1895), II. 255. When … I saw William Forster standing at the hall-door, looking unutterably sad, I felt I could stout it out no longer, and completely broke down.
1897. Advance (Chicago), 25 March, 372/1. Robins have either been belated or some of them determined upon stouting it out all the season through.
† c. To stout out: to ‘brazen out’ (a matter); to persist obstinately in the defence of (a besieged place). Obs.
1568. Harding, Detect. Errours Jewel’s Def., 67 b. First he auoucheth his shamelesse lye boldly, as though where truth faileth, for shew of proufe, the matter might be stowted out.
1644. Prynne & Walker, Fiennes’ Trial, 93. That a French Author … affirmed; it was a capitall offence to stout out a place overlong.
d. To get (something) away from a person by importunity. rare–1.
1812. Ht. Shelley, Lett. (1889), 27. You can say you wish to look at them [Shelley’s MS. Poems], and then you may be able to stout them away from him.
† 3. trans. To defy. Obs.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 2948. But þere þe wyfe ys aboute þe gode man for to stoute.
Hence † Stouting vbl. sb., boastfulness, pride, defiance.
1630. I. C., Handkercher for Parents Wet Eyes, 42. ’Tis not stouting, and stomacke, and pettishnesse, but meekenesse, and patience, and humility, makes God propitious.
