stour

American  

[stoor] / stʊər /

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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Stour ¹ British  

/ staʊə /

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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stour ² British  

/ staʊə, stuːr /

noun

1. turmoil or conflict

2. dust; a cloud of dust

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Etymology

Origin of stour

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

Example Sentences

They drave at sic a rate that when they dashed from this side o' Skeighan Drone the stour o' their career was rising at the far end.

From The House with the Green Shutters by Brown, George Douglas

Of a sooth stiff was the stour, for the Barons and theirs were hardy men and of great prowess, and were three to Sir Godrick's one.

From The Sundering Flood by Morris, May

And aye an' while we nearer draw To whaur the kirkton lies alaw, Mair neebours, comin saft an' slaw Frae here an' there, The thicker thrang the gate, an' caw The stour in air.

From A Lowden Sabbath Morn by Stevenson, Robert Louis

Wee, modest, crimson-tippèd flower, Thou'st met me in an evil hour; For I must crush amongst the stour Thy slender stem.

From The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare by Ellacombe, Henry Nicholson

Fair lady, these two, who will ere long be knights, are my squires-of-arms, who love me wholly and are good men and true, and perilous in the stour to them that love me not.

From The Sundering Flood by Morris, May