[f. STRUT v.1 + -ING2.]
† 1. That swells or bulges fullness. Also with out. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. xcvi. (1495), 842. Some ape is callyd Spinga and ben rough and hery wyth stroutynge pappes and teetys.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 480/2. Strowtynge, adjective, turgidus.
c. 1590. Greene, Fr. Bacon, III. iii. 1421. Fortie kine … With strouting duggs that paggle to the ground.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, iv. 85. Turgid and strouting-out bellies.
β. 1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Caper, Distentæ lacte capellæ, hauyng struttyng teates.
1654. R. Codrington, trans. Iustine, xliv. 519. A Hinde, who did offer her strutting dugs unto the little one.
1693. J. Dryden, Jun., in Dryden’s Juvenal, xiv. 169. As thy strutting Bags with Money rise.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 127, ¶ 6. The strutting Petticoat smooths all Distinctions, levels the Mother with the Daughter.
1815. W. Herbert, Helga, VI. 2084. Prosperous gales Already fill the strutting sails.
Comb. 1579. Twyne, Phis. agst. Fortune, II. xiii. 187. Doe I not see thy bagges stroutyng full?
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 3. An infinite multitude there is of tame cattell with udders strutting-full of milke.
1652. Benlowes, Theophila, XIII. x. 237. Next Close feeds many a strutting udder’d Cow.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, ii. (1673), 21. The strutting-belly’d spindle, that does swell With slender yarn.
† b. That distends or causes to swell. Obs.
1567. Turberv., Epit., etc. 14. For hee the emptie bagge with winde and strouting blast doth fill.
† 2. That protrudes stiffly, sticks out, or juts forth. Obs.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, VII. 385. Þat tyme men usede stroutynge lokkes [L. tunc fluxus crinium]. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., XIV. xxxii. (1495), E vij. The moost hyghe strowtyng partyes of cragges ben callyd Scopuli.
1598. Chapman, Achilles Shield. To Vnderstander, Talke our quidditicall Italianistes of what proportion soeuer their strooting lips affect.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 77. The protuberating or strutting part of the Face.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. i. 439. His strutting Ribs on both sides show’d Like furrows he himself had plow’d.
† 3. fig. Swelling with pride or importance; wrangling, contending; flaunting, swaggering. Obs. exc. as in 5 b.
1577. Kendall, Flowers of Epigr., 41. Learne here ye mortalles all, what tis with stroutyng pride to swell.
1623. B. Jonson, Time Vind. (1640), 97. These are fit freedomes For lawlesse Prentices, on a Shrovetuesday…; For drunken Wakes, and strutting Beare-baytings.
1677. Miége, Dict. Eng.-Fr., A Strutting fob,… qui piafe, qui fait le brave.
1725. Ramsay, To Duncan Forbes, x. When strutting naethings are despis’d, With a’ their stinking pride.
† 4. That stands erect with the feet firmly planted and head high. Also transf. Obs.
a. 1643. W. Cartwright, Ordinary, III. v. (1651), 52. Thy belly looks like to some strutting hill, O’r shadow’d with thy rough beard like a wood.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, vi. 365. Behold the strutting Amazonian Whore, She stands in Guard with her right Foot before.
1710. Swift, Little Ho. Castleknock, 13. This is the little strutting pile, You see just by the church-yard stile.
5. That walks with a stiff erect gait and self-important air.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 153. Like a strutting Player, whose conceit Lies in his Ham-string. Ibid. (1610), Temp., I. ii. 385. I heare, the straine of strutting Chanticlere.
1635. Quarles, Embl., IV. iii. 16. My loftie strutting steps disdaine to tire.
1719. in W. W. Wilkins, Polit. Ballads (1860), II. 193. In his embroider’d coat they found him, With all his strutting dwarfs around him.
1829. Cunningham, Brit. Painters, I. 162. Hogarth was a strutting consequential little man.
1912. C. N. & A. M. Williamson, Guests of Hercules, v. 54. Little tables where people drank tea and fed the strutting pigeons.
b. fig.
1601. 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass., III. iv. 1386. My high tiptoe strouting poesye.
1779. Johnson, L. P., Gray, Wks. 1825, VIII. 487. He [Gray in his Odes] has a kind of strutting dignity, and is tall by walking on tiptoe.
1785. Cowper, Lett. to Newton, 10 Dec. All his persons … speak in an inflated and strutting phraseology.
1813. Examiner, 15 Feb., 106/2. He was … fond of strutting sentiments, and well-rounded declamation.
1852. M. Arnold, Urania, iv. Our petty souls, our strutting wits.
Hence Struttingly adv.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 16/2. A-strut, or strutyngly, turgide. Ibid., 480/2. Strowtyngly, or asturt.
1576. Newton, Lemnie’s Complex., I. x. 80 b. It is to bee noted that these complexioned personnes be … graunde paunched & stroutingly bellyed.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 1031. He walks proudly; struttingly.
1780. Davies, Garrick (1781), I. iii. 25. In Tamerlane he [Bridgewater] was solemnly drowsy in speaking, and struttingly insignificant in action.
1827. Lytton, Pelham, lxxix. Slowly and struttingly did the man of two virtues perform the whole pilgrimage of Oxford Street.
1902. Swinburne, Dickens (1913), 3. The struttingly offensive father [Dombey].
