bout English · revision 10317

17 Oct 2026, 02:27 by bogdan “en10k b0344: bout … rabbit”
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+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=before 1541|origins=ang byht}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈbaʊt/^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is probably a variant of the obsolete [[bought]], a bend, curve or loop (1468, earlier Middle English bught, before 1400),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) perhaps from an unrecorded Old English *buht, a variant of byht, a bend (see [[bight]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) or from Low German bucht.^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) It was associated with bout, a shortening of [[about]].^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ A circuit or orbit, a roundabout way: before 1541, in the poetry of Wyatt; now obsolete.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==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),^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988) a round of fighting, a contest or trial of strength (1591, in Shakespeare's ''Henry VI, Part 1''),^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) a fit of drinking (1670, the 1660s),^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) and a fit of illness (by 1938).^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * before 1541 – a circuit.^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * 1575 – a spell of work.^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * 1591 – a contest.^(Barnhart 1988)
+ * 1601 – a plough's round.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1670 – a fit of drinking.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1938 – a fit of illness.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A contest between opponents, especially a boxing or wrestling [[match]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # A period spent in a particular way; a [[spell]]: ''a bout of drinking''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)
+ # A period of illness.^(Collins 2023)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[bight]]
+ * [[bought]]
+ * [[about]]
+ 
+ ==Usage notes==
+ Bout, short for about, is from the mid-13th century.^(Etymonline) In Scots, bout also meant to spring or leap.^(Wright 1898)
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}