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Bout

 - 3 dictionary results

bout

  [bout]
Use Bout in a Sentence
–noun
1. a contest or trial of strength, as of boxing.
2. period; session; spell: a bout of illness.
3. a turn at work or any action.
4. a going and returning across a field, as in mowing or reaping.
Origin:
1535–45; var. of obs. bought bend, turn, deriv. of bow bow 1 ; see bight

Synonyms:
1. match, fray, encounter.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Bout
bout   (bout)   
n.  

  1. A contest between antagonists; a match: a wrestling bout.

  2. A period of time spent in a particular way; a spell: "His tremendous bouts of drinking had wrecked his health" (Thomas Wolfe).


[From obsolete English bought, a turning (influenced by about), from Middle English, from bowen, to bend, turn; see bow2.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

bout 
1541, from M.E. bught, probably from an unrecorded O.E. variant of byht "a bend," from P.Gmc. *bukhta-. Sense evolved from "a circuit of any kind" (as of a plow) to "a round at any kind of exercise" (1575), "a round at fighting" (1591), extended 1670 to "a fit of drinking."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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