[f. STOUT a. + -NESS.] The quality or condition of being stout.
† 1. Pride, haughtiness, arrogance. Obs.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VII. 356. For quhar a hert is rycht vorthy, Agane stoutnes [it] is ay stout.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. xviii. (1495), 204. And god commaundeth that the lordes be not besye to wynne and gete theyr owne joye and stowtnes.
c. 1400. Brut, 124. He … bicome a gode man and an holy, and lefte al maner pride & stoutenesse.
1535. Coverdale, Jer. xlviii. 29. I knowe hir stoutnesse [1611 pride].
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Matt. v. 5. Stowtnes and styfnes is hated of al men.
1552. Latimer, Serm. 3rd Sund. Epiph. (1584), 309 b. Beware of pride and stoutnes.
1570. Jewel, Def. Apol., II. iii. (1571), 119. Doubtlesse … the Councel of Aphrica meante the stoutenesse of the Cleregie, and not of the Nobles: the pride of Rome, and not of Aphrica.
1572. Huloet (ed. Higins), Stoutnes, proudeness, or arrogancie, fastus, arrogantia ferocitas, [etc.].
1600. Holland, Livy, XLII. xiv. 1123. Besides, the stoutnes used by Harpalus (the principall person of the embassie) … exasperated their stomackes.
1607. Shaks., Cor., V. vi. 27. His stoutnesse When he did stand for Consull, which he lost By lacke of stooping.
2. Bravery, valor, courageousness. Now rare, exc. in stoutness of heart.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 799. Is nane sa stalwart in stour, with stoutnes to stand.
1553. Brende, Q. Curtius, A iij. In an excellent capitaine nature must geve the chiefest partes, that is to say: hardines, stowtenes of stomacke, wyth a natural wisdome and understanding.
1561. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtier, I. (1577), C ij b. Dyuerse calamities, which hee alwayes bore out with such stoutnesse of courage, that [etc.].
a. 1575. trans. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist., I. (Camden, No. 36), 39. At the lengthe, having conflicte with wilde beastes, [he] made a beastlie ende, and thus … to miche stoutenes beecamme his owne confusion.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. xvii. (1912), 452. [She] was an Amazon, and therefore had gotten a habite of stoutnes above the nature of a woman.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, V. § 6. 416. Stoutnesse and courage of mind.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 17 Sept. Sir Thomas Clifford, who appears … much set by at Court for his activity in going to sea, and stoutness every where.
1691. Hartcliffe, Virtues, 119. As Stoutness of mind very well agrees with Meekness, and therefore Moses, who was indeed a Person of the most undaunted Courage, is said in Scripture to be the meekest Man upon Earth.
1727. Bailey, vol. II., Stoutness, Courageousness, Boldness.
1822. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. Decay of Beggars. The common cripple would despise his own pusillanimity, viewing the hale stoutness, and hearty heart, of this half-limbed giant.
1827. Pollok, Course T., II. 770. He … Amidst vindictive thunders lets them try The stoutness of their heart.
3. Firmness, resoluteness.
1561. Eden, Arte Nauig., Pref. ℂℂ i. Accoumpting … rashnesse for hardinesse, impudencie for stoutnesse.
1577. Vautrouillier, Luther on Ep. Gal., 48. Our stoutnes therfore in this matter is godly and holy.
1642–4. Vicars, God in Mount, 132. These with the rest discovered aboundance of stoutnes and resolution.
1799. Han. More, Fem. Educ. (ed. 4), I. 8. Let her … not make herself amends by the stoutness of her orthodoxy for the badness of her temper.
† 4. Stubbornness, intractability, rebelliousness.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 1936. He is a fool in sikernesse, That with daunger or stoutnesse Rebellith ther that he shulde plese.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 478/2. Stowtnesse, or vnbuxumnesse, rebellio.
1560. Bps. Addr., in Strype, Ann. Ref. (1709), I. xviii. 214. Not in any respect of Self-Will, Stoutness, or striving against her Majesty.
1570. Jewel, Def. Apol., II. xviii. (1571), 350. But perceiuing that the King was much moued and misliked his stoutnesse, the next night folowing, he fled ouer into France, and afterwarde sought aide of the Pope.
1599. Sandys, Europæ Spec. (1632), 174. Hee opposeth a proud stoutnesse and intractable obstinacie.
a. 1654. Gataker, Antid. Errour (1670), 51. Either out of a stoutnes of stomack, and a stifnes of self-wil, or out of an extream malice and inveterate hatred against the person.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 534. There is a stoutness, and an aversion to inferiority rooted in all men, which must be managed with great delicacy.
5. Sporting. In animals, esp. horses and foxes: Staying power, endurance.
1818. ‘W. H. Scott,’ Brit. Field Sports, 510–1. Horses … able to carry weight,… and more distinguished for stoutness, in the Turf phrase, namely stoutness of heart, or ability to last, than for speed.
1826. J. Cook, Fox-hunting, 61. I could enumerate many other capital runs to prove the stoutness of the Essex foxes.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, I. III. ii. 156. Stoutness [in the greyhound] depends partly upon general muscular development.
1883. Times, 22 Oct., 10/2. He [a racehorse] appears to be bred rather for speed than for stoutness.
1901. Daily Chron., 20 Nov., 4/2. A capital day’s sport was witnessed at this club gathering,… hares running with great stoutness.
6. In physical senses:
a. Strength of body or limbs (now rare).
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 478/2. Stowtnesse, or strenghe, robur.
1866. Seeley, Ecce Homo, iii. (ed. 8), 23. No one doubted the stoutness of Samson’s sinews.
b. Corpulence.
1838. Lytton, Alice, II. ii. Mr. Merton was … fair, and inclined to stoutness.
1899. ‘A. Hope,’ King’s Mirror, xiv. 139. He grew indolent; his stoutness increased.
1902. Mabel Barnes-Grundy, Thames Camp, 49. Long hours of idleness … tend to encourage a dreadful infirmity called ‘stoutness.’
c. Massiveness; strength due to thickness.
1845. Florist’s Jrnl. (1846), VI. 156. Our plant however is by no means possessed of the huge size and stoutness for which D. speciosum is remarkable.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 409. Carex vulpina … Perigynia compressed, ribs variable in stoutness.
1915. H. G. Hutchinson, in Blackw. Mag., Aug., 198/2. In spite of the Stoutness of our tackle, they [the fish] broke us.
