stour

[ stoo r ]

/ stʊər /

noun

British Dialect.

tumult; confusion.
a storm.

British Dialect. blowing dust or a deposit of dust.

Archaic. armed combat; battle.

British Dialect. a time of tumult.

Nearby words

Origin of stour

1250–1300; Middle English < Old French estour battle < Germanic; akin to storm

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for stour

The principal rivers are the Stour, the Frome, and the Piddle.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia|Various
For we said that we would all die together if needs must; and verily the stour was hard.
The Roots of the Mountains|William Morris
He landed in the same neighbourhood as before, and advanced 12 miles inland to the river Stour before meeting with the islanders.
The Towns of Roman Britain|James Oliver Bevan
Whatever came in their way, both stone and stour,16 they went right through it, and there was neither sound nor shriek.
Weird Tales from Northern Seas|Jonas Lie

Blandford St. Mary is the suburb on the west side of the Stour.
Wanderings in Wessex|Edric Holmes

British Dictionary definitions for stour (1 of 2)

stour

Scot stoor (stuːr)

/ (staʊə) /

noun Scot and Northern English dialect

turmoil or conflict

dust; a cloud of dust

Word Origin for stour

C14: from Old French estour armed combat, of Germanic origin; related to Old High German sturm storm

British Dictionary definitions for stour (2 of 2)

Stour

/ (staʊə) /

noun

Also called: Great Stour a river in S England, in Kent, rising in the Weald and flowing N to the North Sea: separates the Isle of Thanet from the mainland

any of several smaller rivers in England

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 stour

stour

c.1300, "armed conflict, struggle with adversity or pain," from Anglo-French estur, from Old French estour, from Proto-Germanic *sturmoz "storm" (see storm). Became obsolete, revived by Spenser and his followers in various senses; also surviving as a Scottish and Northern English word meaning "a (driving) storm" or "uproar, commotion."