English

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 Middle English stoure, stourre, from Old Norse staurr ‎(“a stake, pale”), from Proto-Germanic *stauraz ‎(“pole, support”), from 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 Middle English stour, stor ‎(“conflict”) from Anglo-Norman estur ‎(“conflict, struggle”), from Old French estour, estor, estorme, estourmie, estormie ‎(“battle, assault, conflict, tumult”), from Frankish *sturm ‎(“storm, commotion, battle”), from 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.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur, 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, The Faerie Queene, I.ii:

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

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

Verb

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

1. Alternative form of stoor

Anagrams

• roust, routs, torus, tours, Tours

Middle English

Alternative forms

• stoor

Adjective

stour

1. large