Definition of "stout"

Yossarian walked out of the office and down the stairs into the dark, tomblike street, passing in the hall the stout woman with warts and two chins, who was already on her way back in.

1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, page 427

Art thou but Captaine of a thouſand horſe,That by Characters grauen in thy browes,And by thy martiall face and ſtout aſpect,Deſeru’ſt to haue the leading of an hoſte?

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)

a stouter champion never handled sword.

1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iv]

He quickly lost the character of a bold, stout, magnanimous man.

1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707

The lords all stand / To clear their cause, most resolutely stout.

1609, Samuel Daniel, The Civile Wares

Your words have been stout against me.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Malachi 3:13

Commonly […] they that be rich are lofty and stout.

1552, Hugh Latimer, The Fifth Sermon Preached on the Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Trinity, 1552

he had reason to be extremely grateful to Sterling, his Manchester City teammate, who won and converted the penalty that appeared to have broken Iceland’s stout resistance.

2020 September 5, David Hytner, “Raheem Sterling keeps his cool to see off Iceland amid blaze of late drama”, in The Guardian‎

So, Andover featured in the Glorious Revolution, which involved the deposition of Catholic fraterniser James II and his replacement by stout Protestants William and Mary.

2023 June 28, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: Alton to Exeter”, in RAIL, number 986, page 58

[...] Pipes, who acted as the enemy's forlorn hope, advanced to the gate with great intrepidity, and clapping his foot to the door, which was none of the ſtouteſt, with the execution and diſpatch of a petard, ſplit it into a thouſand pieces.

1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “He is Concerned in a Dangerous Adventure with a Certain Gardener; […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], page 49, column 1

Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins … .

1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎

Incidentally the survey pointed up the sad plight of the stylish stouts, today's “forgotten men.” The clothing situation is getting so critical for them that they may have to choose between eating and dressing.

1946, Printers' Ink

The all-around waist is increased or over-built, according to size, which makes this form a stout.

1918, Isidor Rosenfeld, The Practical Designer for Women's and Misses' Underwear - The Study of the Stout Form