stour

See also: Stour

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English store, stoor, stour (“tall, powerful”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English stōr (“tall, great, mighty, strong”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *stōraz, *stōrijaz (“great, big, strong”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *stār-, *stōr- (“big, bulky”). Akin to Scots stour (“tall, large, great, stout”), Saterland Frisian stor (“great, many”), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Danish, (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Swedish and (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Norwegian stor (“large, great”), Icelandic stórr (“large, tall”), Polish stary (“old, ancient”) and probably Albanian shtoj (“I add, increase”). Compare also stoor, steer, stately.

Alternative forms

• stoor, stoore, stoure, stowre, stuir, stur, sture, sturry

Adjective

stour (comparative more stour, superlative most stour)

1. (now rare outside dialects) Tall; large; stout.
2. (now rare outside dialects) Strong; powerful; hardy; robust; sturdy.

   O stronge lady stoor, what doest thou?--Chaucer.

3. (now rare outside dialects) Bold; audacious.
4. (now rare outside dialects) Rough in manner; stern; austere; ill-tempered.
5. (now rare outside dialects, of a voice) Rough; hoarse; deep-toned; harsh.
6. (now rare outside dialects, of land or cloth) Stiff; inflexible.
7. (obsolete) Resolute; unyielding.

   In a stour wise.

Derived terms

• stourly
• stourness

Adverb

stour (comparative more stour, superlative most stour)

1. (now chiefly dialectal) Severely; strongly.

Etymology 2

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English stoure, stourre, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Norse staurr (“a stake, pale”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *stauraz (“pole, support”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *stā- (“to stand, place”). Cognate with Icelandic staur (“a stake, pole”), Ancient Greek σταυρός (staurós, “a stake, cross”).

Noun

stour (plural stours)

1. A stake.
2. A round of a ladder.
3. A stave in the side of a wagon.
4. A large pole by which barges are propelled against the stream; a poy.

Etymology 3

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English stour, stor (“conflict”) from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  estur (“conflict, struggle”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French estour, estor, estorme, estourmie, estormie (“battle, assault, conflict, tumult”), from Vulgar Latin *estorma, *storma (“battle, conflict, storm”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  *sturm (“storm, commotion, battle”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *sturmaz (“storm”). Akin to Old High German sturm (“battle, storm”). More at storm.

Noun

stour (plural stours)

1. (obsolete) An armed battle or conflict.
   • Template:RQ:Mlry MrtArthr1, Book V:

     Then there began a passyng harde stoure, for the Romaynes ever wexed ever bygger.

   • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, XII, xv:

     This pair, who past have many a dreadful stour, / And proffer now to prove this venture stout, / Alone to this attempt let them go forth, / Alone than thousands of more price and worth.

2. (obsolete) A time of struggle or stress.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Then gan she waile and weepe, to see that woefull stowre.

3. (now dialectal) Tumult, commotion; confusion.
4. (UK dialectal, Ulster) A blowing or deposit of dust; dust in motion or at rest; dust in general.

Verb

stour (third-person singular simple present stours, present participle stouring, simple past and past participle stoured)

1. Alternative form of stoor

Anagrams

• Rusto, Tours, roust, routs, sutor, torus, tours

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• stoor

Adjective

stour

1. Alternative form of store