bout

See also 'bout

English

Pronunciation

• X-SAMPA: /"baUt/
• IPA: /ˈbaʊt/

Etymology 1

From Middle English bught, probably from an unrecorded Old English variant of byht (“a bend”). See bight, bought.

Noun

bout (plural bouts)

1. A period of something, usually painful or unpleasant

   a bout of drought.

2. (boxing) A boxing match.
3. (fencing) An assault (a fencing encounter) at which the score is kept.
4. A fighting competition.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     Then they had bouts of wrestling and of cudgel play, so that every day they gained in skill and strength.

5. (music) A bulge or widening in a musical instrument, such as either of the two characteristic bulges of a guitar.
6. (dated) The going and returning of a plough, or other implement used to mark the ground and create a headland, across a field.
   • 1809, A Letter to Sir John Sinclair [...] containing a Statement of the System under which a considerable Farm is profitably managed in Hertfordshire. Given at the request of the Board. By Thomas Greg, Esq., published in The Farmer's Magazine, page 395:

     The outside bout of each land is ploughed two inches deeper, and from thence the water runs into cross furrows, which are dug with a spade [...] I have an instrument of great power, called a scarifier, for this purpose. It is drawn by four horses, and completely prepares the land for the seed at each bout.

   • 1922, An Ingenious One-Way Agrimotor, published in The Commercial Motor, volume 34, published by Temple Press, page 32:

     It is in this manner that the ploughs are reversed at the termination of each bout of the field.

   • 1976, Claude Culpin, Farm Machinery, page 60:

     The last two rounds must be ploughed shallower, and on the last bout the strip left should be one furrow width for a two-furrow plough, two for a three-furrow, and so on. [...]

Translations

period of something

• Finnish: jakso (fi)

boxing match

• Finnish: ottelu (fi)

fencing encounter

• Finnish: pisto (fi)

• Manx: cliwederys (gv) m

fighting competition

• Finnish: ottelu (fi), mittelö (fi)

Etymology 2

Written form of a reduction of "about".

Preposition

bout

1. (colloquial) about

   they're talking bout you!

   Maddy is bout to get beat up!

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch bout, from Old Dutch *bolt, from Proto-Germanic *bultaz.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑu̯t

Noun

bout m (plural bouten, diminutive boutje)

1. bolt
2. leg of an animal as food
3. (vulgar) fart

Synonyms

• poot
• scheet
• ruft

Related terms

• moer
• schroef

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French

Etymology

From Middle French, from Old French bout (“a blow”), derivative of bouter (“to strike”), of Germanic origin. More at bouter.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bu/, X-SAMPA: /bu/

• audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Homophones: boue, bous

Noun

bout m (plural bouts)

1. end, extremity, tip (of a physical object)
2. bit, piece, scrap
3. (nautical) rope

Derived terms

à bout bon bout bout à bout bout de doigt bout de l'an bout du monde bout de sein bout d'essai

bout filtre brûler la chandelle par les deux bouts de bout en bout mener qqn par le bout du nez par le bon bout remercier du bout des lèvres jusqu'au bout

Verb form

bout

1. third-person singular indicative present of bouillir