stour

[stoo r]

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.

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

Historical Examples of stour

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.
The Early Life of Mark Rutherford
Mark Rutherford
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'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.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia
Various

British Dictionary definitions for stour

stour

Scot stoor (stuːr)

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

Stour

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

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."