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stour

[stoo r]
noun
  1. British Dialect.
    1. tumult; confusion.
    2. a storm.
  2. British Dialect. blowing dust or a deposit of dust.
  3. Archaic. armed combat; battle.
  4. British Dialect. a time of tumult.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for stour

Historical Examples

  • It is the dividing line between the basins of the Medway and the Stour.

    The Old Road

    Hilaire Belloc

  • I have wandered through these Dedham fields by the banks of the Stour.

  • For we said that we would all die together if needs must; and verily the stour was hard.

  • He's our leading antiquarian, and knows more about the Stour Valley than any one else.

    Kathleen

    Christopher Morley

  • The principal rivers are the Stour, the Frome, and the Piddle.

British Dictionary definitions for stour

stour

Scot stoor (stuːr)

noun Scot and Northern English dialect
  1. turmoil or conflict
  2. dust; a cloud of dust
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Word Origin

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

Stour

noun
  1. 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
  2. any of several smaller rivers in England
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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

n.

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."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper