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stout

1. Strong; lusty; vigorous; robust; sinewy; muscular; hence, firm; resolute; dauntless. With hearts stern and stout. (Chaucer) A stouter champion never handled sword. (Shak) He lost the character of a bold, stout, magnanimous man. (Clarendon) The lords all stand To clear their cause, most resolutely stout. (Daniel)

2. Proud; haughty; arrogant; hard. Your words have been stout against me. (mal. Iii. 13) Commonly . . . They that be rich are lofty and stout. (Latimer)

3. Firm; tough; materially strong; enduring; as, a stout vessel, stick, string, or cloth.

4. Large; bulky; corpulent.

Synonym: Stout, corpulent, Portly.

corpulent has reference simply to a superabundance or excess of flesh. Portly implies a kind of stoutness or corpulence which gives a dignified or imposing appearance. Stout, in our early writers (as in the english bible), was used chiefly or wholly in the sense of strong or bold; as, a stout champion; a stout heart; a stout resistance, etc. at a later period it was used for thickset or bulky, and more recently, especially in England, the idea has been carried still further, so that Taylor says in his synonyms: The stout man has the proportions of an ox; he is corpulent, fat, and fleshy in relation to his size. In America, stout is still commonly used in the original sense of strong as, a stout boy; a stout pole.

Origin: D. Stout bold (or OF. Estout bold, proud, of Teutonic origin); akin to AS. Stolt, G. Stolz, and perh. To E. 432 Stilt.