bout

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbaʊt/^[1]

Etymology

It is probably a variant of the obsolete bought, a bend, curve or loop (1468, earlier Middle English bught, before 1400),^[2][3][4] perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *buht, a variant of byht, a bend (see bight),^[2][3] or from Low German bucht.^[4][5] It was associated with bout, a shortening of about.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A circuit or orbit, a roundabout way: before 1541, in the poetry of Wyatt; now obsolete.^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense moved from a circuit of any kind, as of a plough going along and back between two furrows (1601), to a round of any kind of exercise or a spell of work (1575, the 1570s),^[3][7][2] a round of fighting, a contest or trial of strength (1591, in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 1),^[2][7] a fit of drinking (1670, the 1660s),^[7][3] and a fit of illness (by 1938).^[3]

Timeline

• before 1541 – a circuit.^[2]
• 1575 – a spell of work.^[2]
• 1591 – a contest.^[2]
• 1601 – a plough's round.^[7]
• 1670 – a fit of drinking.^[7]
• 1938 – a fit of illness.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A contest between opponents, especially a boxing or wrestling match.
2. A period spent in a particular way; a spell: a bout of drinking.
3. A period of illness.

Related words

• bight
• bought
• about

Usage notes

Bout, short for about, is from the mid-13th century.^[3] In Scots, bout also meant to spring or leap.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)