bout
[bout]
- a contest or trial of strength, as of boxing.
- period; session; spell: a bout of illness.
- a turn at work or any action.
- a going and returning across a field, as in mowing or reaping.
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Origin of bout
Synonyms
See more synonyms for bout on Thesaurus.com1. match, fray, encounter.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bouts
Contemporary Examples
Her bouts with cancer—all three of them—were inspiring, heartbreaking, and, most of all, real.
Lost in the two opposing framings of Funke are the reports that her family stated that she suffered from bouts of depression.
Either one describes the bouts of anxiety single guys in their thirties feel about their marital status.
Bouts of landays may be a formal part of a family gathering or may emerge more spontaneously as an adjunct to collective labor.
Brooks: The main thing I remember from then is bouts of grief for no apparent reason.
Historical Examples
He had won two bouts out of three and stood victor without a throw.
Buried Cities, Part 2Jennie Hall
It was in one of Wilson's bouts away at—at Gaskarth, so he said.
The Shadow of a CrimeHall Caine
From the warping-bars these bouts are carefully wound on the warp-beam.
Home Life in Colonial DaysAlice Morse Earle
But in all the many other bouts in which Verbeena had been engaged, kissing was strictly foul.
The ShriekCharles Somerville
The three bouts are over, and your ambition will be gratified.
bout
- a period of time spent doing something, such as drinking
- a period of illness
- a contest or fight, esp a boxing or wrestling match
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Word Origin
C16: variant of obsolete bought turn; related to German Bucht bight; see about
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for bouts
bout
n.
1540s, from Middle English bught, probably from an unrecorded Old English variant of byht "a bend," from Proto-Germanic *bukhta- (see bight (n.)). Sense evolved from "a circuit of any kind" (as of a plow) to "a round at any kind of exercise" (1570s), "a round at fighting" (1590s), "a fit of drinking" (1660s).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper