stibborn

Middle English

Alternative forms

• stiborn

Adjective

stibborn

1. stubborn
   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Wife of Bath's Prologue, The Canterbury Tales, line 637-640:

     ‘Stiborn I was as is a leonesse,
     And of my tonge a verray Iangleresse,
     And walke I wolde, as I had doon biforn,
     From hous to hous, al-though he had it sworn.’

     ‘I was as stubborn as is a lioness,
     And of my tongue a true chatterbox,
     And I would walk, as I had done before,
     From house to house, although he had sworn the contrary.’

References

• “stibborn”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.