strut

strut¹ walk pompously

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle English strouten, also struten,^[2][3] inherited from Old English strūtian (“to stand out stiffly”),^{[3][4][5][6][7]} from Proto-Germanic *strūtōną.^[8] Barnhart gives the Germanic root as Proto-Germanic *strūt-, and Etymonline gives it without the long vowel.^[3][9] Cognates include Middle High German striuzen (“to contend”), strotzen (“to bulge, swell”) and German strotzen (“to be puffed up”), Danish strutte (“to swell, strut”) and Swedish strutta (“to strut, trip”).^[3][5][9] Etymonline and Klein trace it to Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”), the root of stare,^[9][5] while Barnhart connects it with þrūtian (“to swell with pride or anger”) and with Proto-Indo-European *(s)treud-.^[3] The OED explains the variation between these Middle English forms as partly the result of different formations from different grades of the root, found in the same senses and so treated as one word.^[10] Hoad calls the modern form an unexplained alteration of stroute.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Old English the verb is rare and its meaning is uncertain:^[10] Bosworth–Toller gives "to stand out stiffly" for its one use, in Ælfric's Lives of Saints, of robbers held fast at their work by a saint,^[6][3] and the OED suggests "to make a show of working" or "to struggle".^[10]

Semantic evolution

Middle English strouten meant to stick out, bulge or swell, and also to bluster, threaten or contend, both before 1300;^[10][2][3] Chaucer wrote of hair that "strouted as a fanne".^[6] From about 1399 it was used of displaying one's clothes proudly.^[3][9] From 1518 it was used of walking in a vain, self-important manner, the sense that prevailed.^[3][9] In the late 16th century it also meant to behave proudly or swagger, often as strut it.^[10] The noun, a strutting walk, followed in 1607.^[10][3] Middle English also had a noun strout, strife or a quarrel, and later a proud display of fine clothes.^[10][9] Strut was the name of a dance from about 1900,^[9] and strut one's stuff, to show off, is recorded by 1926.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English strūtian, to stand out stiffly or to struggle (meaning uncertain).^[3][10]
• before 1300 – to bulge, swell; to bluster, contend.^[10][3]
• c. 1399 – to display one's clothes proudly.^[3]
• 1518 – to walk in a vain, self-important manner.^[3] Etymonline dates it to the 1510s.^[9]
• 1607 – noun, a strutting walk.^[10][3]
• 1926 – strut one's stuff, to show off.^[9]
• 1937 – noun, a slow and intricate dance or dance step.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To walk with a stiff, upright and pompous gait, as if to show one's importance; to swagger: The rooster strutted across the yard.^[12][13]
2. strut one's stuff: to show off one's abilities in a proud, confident way.^[12][9]
3. To swell or become turgid.^[13]
4. (obsolete, before 1300–1854) To bulge or protrude.^[10][2]
5. (obsolete, before 1300–1460) To contend, quarrel or bluster.^[10][2]

Noun

1. A stiff, self-important walk.^[12][10]
2. A slow, intricate dance or dance step.^[10][14]

Word family

• strutter
• struttingly
• outstrut

strut² supporting brace

Etymology

The brace is of uncertain origin,^[3][10] perhaps from the verb strut¹,^{[3][9][11][15]} or a cognate word from Scandinavian or Low German.^[9] Dictionaries compare Low German strutt (“stiff, rigid”),^{[10][9][5][3]} Old Norse strútr (“conical headdress”) and the Norwegian strut, spout or nozzle,^[3][10][9] all from the root of the verb, perhaps in the sense "to stand out".^[3][10] Weekley noted that in sense it matches Dutch stut (“prop, support”) and German Stütze (“stay, prop”), which are not related to it.^[15]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bar or timber in a framework that resists pressure along its length, such as a diagonal brace under a rafter: 1587, in Leonard Mascall's Booke of Cattell.^[10][3][13] Etymonline dates it to the 1580s,^[9] Dictionary.com to 1565–75.^[16]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed in carpentry and building, and in the 19th century in English dialects from Yorkshire to Somerset a strut was a prop, especially one supporting a roof.^[17] The verb, to brace with struts, is recorded from 1828, in a glossary of the Craven dialect.^[10][13] Later engineering extended the noun to parts of machines, aircraft and ships, such as the strut of an aircraft's landing gear or a support for a ship's propeller shaft.^[13]

Timeline

• 1587 – a bar or brace resisting pressure in a framework.^[10][3][13]
• 1828 – verb, to brace or support with struts.^[10][13]
• 1832 – verb, to be set diagonally.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bar or rod in a frame, structure or machine that resists pressure along its length; a brace or prop: a strut under the porch roof.^[13][12][10]
2. A support between the stern tube and the propeller of a ship with more than one propeller shaft.^[13]

Verb

1. To brace, stiffen or hold apart with struts.^[13][12][10]