▪ I. gout, n.1
(gaʊt)
Forms: 3–7 goute, 4 goutt, gutt(e, 4–5 gut(e, 4–7 gowt(e, 6 Sc. gute, 6–7 Sc. gutt, 6–8 Sc. gut, 4– gout.
[a. OF. goute, goutte (F. goutte) drop, gout:—L. gutta drop, in med.L. applied to gout and other diseases attributed to a ‘defluxion’ of humours (see Du Cange).]
I. 1. A specific constitutional disease occurring in paroxysms, usually hereditary and in male subjects; characterized by painful inflammation of the smaller joints, esp. that of the great toe, and the deposition of sodium urate in the form of chalk-stones; it often spreads to the larger joints and the internal organs.
The name is derived from the notion of the ‘dropping’ of a morbid material from the blood in and around the joints.
a. With a and pl.: orig. perh. referring to an affection of a particular joint; in later use = a fit or attack of the disease, or simply, the disease itself (= b. Cf. fever 2). Obs.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 360/39 Þare cam a goute In is kneo, of Anguische gret..So longue, þat is kneo to-swal. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xv. 48 A goute me hath ygreythed so, Ant other eveles monye mo. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xx. 191 He..gyued me in goutes, I may nouȝte go at large. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 235 A man þat haþ arteticam, þat is as myche to seie as a goute. c 1450 ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 203 Here wyþ anoynte þe goutes. c 1566 J. Alday tr. Boaystuau's Theat. World H ij b, Their legges full of gouts. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 351 For all goutes, seethe Leekes and Otemeale with sheepes tallow, and apply them hot. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 29 And eke in foote and hand A grievous gout tormented him full sore. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 467 From Winter keep Well fodder'd in the Stalls, thy tender Sheep:..That free from Gouts thou mayst preserve thy Care. 1704 F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) Pref., There have been some Gouts..which nothing could remove but a very low Diet. 1732 Pope Ess. Man ii. 149 So, when small humours gather to a gout, The Doctor fancies he has driv'n 'em out. 1822 Ld. Eldon in Twiss Life (1844) II. 450, I found the King in bed yesterday, He has had a pretty severe gout. |
b. sing. only (often
the gout). Phrase,
† (to be) in the gout.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11865 He was al so sik mid goute & oþer wo. a 1300 Cursor M. 11825 Þe gutte þe potagre es il to bete, It fell al dun in-til his fete. c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 20 The goute lette hire no-thyng for to daunce. c 1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 206 Ȝyf hyt be þe hote goute, lef þe lynsed, & ȝyf hyt be þe cold goute, tak hyt. c 1450 Merlin 91 He fill in a grete sekenesse of the gowte in handes and feet. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §65 There be beastes, that wyll haue the goute, and moste commonly in the hynder fete, and it wyll cause them to halt. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 280 Ane greit seiknes him tuke, Quhilk him dalie vexit with gute and gravell. 1587 Churchyard Worth. Wales (1876) 59 And legges be lame and gowte creepes in the toes. 1634 Laud Let. 4 Mar. in Strafforde Lett. (1739) I. 375 Your Brother tells me you are in the Gout. a 1651 Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 555 He was lying sicke of the gutt. 1726 Gay in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 61 With Mr. Congreve, who has been like to die with a fever, and the gout in his stomach. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xlviii. (1869) III. 50 His health was broken by the tortures of the gout. 1806–7 Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) ii. No. 30 When in the gout, receiving the salutations of a muscular friend, who [etc.]. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 333 I've never had the gout, 'tis true. 1877 Roberts Handbk. Med. (ed. 3) I. 231 Gout is the chief disease from which rheumatism has to be distinguished. |
| fig. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 345 The gout and dropsy of a big margent, litter'd and overlaid with crude and huddl'd quotations. |
† c. falling gout, epilepsy.
Obs. [
med.L.
gutta cadiva or
caduca: see Du Cange.]
| a 1300 Cursor M. 11831 Þe falland gute [Gött. goutt, Fairf. & Trin. euel] he had. |
† d. slang. In names for the venereal disease.
| 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. xxi, The rankest Roan-ague (Anglicé, the Covent-garden Gout). a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Common-garden-gout, or rather Covent-Garden. Ibid., Spanish gout. |
† 2. gout rose,
gout roset [a.
OF. goutte rose, or with
Eng. dim. ending
-et1]
= Copper-nose 1.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 189 Of clooþ þat is clepid fraclis or goute roset. c 1450 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. ix. 229 Vndyr þe nese..lyggys a vayn þat is gud to opyne for þe gut roset. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. P ij, For to clense y⊇ mater of gout rose & other infections of the face and mouth. [Cf. Ibid. Y j, The gutta rosa.] |
† 3. A disease in hawks and other birds;
esp. a knob or hard swelling on the feet.
Obs.| 1486 Bk. St. Albans C iij, When ye se yowre hawke blaw oftyn tymes: and that it commys of no batyng, ye may be sure she hath the gowte in the throte. Ibid., When ye se yowre hawke may not endew her meete nor remounte her astate, she hath the gowte in the hede and in the Raynes. 1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 258 Many times..the gowte doth befall a Hawke, which is none other thing than a hard tumor and swelling, full of corruption aboute the ioyntes of a Hawkes foote and stretchers. Ibid. 345 Of the swelling in a Hawkes foote, which we tearme the pin or pin Goute. 1600 Surflet Country Farme vii. lxvii. 898 Olde Nightingales of the cage..are subiect to gouts and conuulsions in the breast. |
4. A disease in wheat, caused by the larva of the gout-fly (see
quots. and
gout-fly).
| 1828 Examiner 344/1 The roots have been destroyed by the Gout as it is technically termed. 1860 Curtis Farm Insects 234 Chlorops tæniopus..causes the disease termed in Oxfordshire the gout in wheat and barley, from the stalk being swollen to thrice its natural size. |
II. In the original etymological sense of ‘drop’.
5. a. A drop of liquid,
esp. of blood. In the later use, after Shakespeare, it tends to mean: A large splash or clot.
| 1503 Art Good Living & Dying X iiij, The ewyl rich the qwich may not haue ȝyt oon gowt of Watyr. Ibid. Cc v a/1, The . v . tokyng qwych shall go befor the jugement al herbys treys wooddys shal sweyt reed gouttys of water, as blood. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. i. 46, I see thee still; And on thy Blade, and Dudgeon, Gouts of Blood, Which was not so before. 1800 W. R. Spencer Beth-gelert xi, Where'er his eyes he cast, Fresh blood-gouts shock'd his view. 1814 Byron Lara ii. vi, Nor gout of blood, nor shred of mantle torn. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle vi. (1859) 121 Gushing streams burst from the mountain sides like gouts of froth. 1839 Lowell Summer Storm Poet. Wks. (1879) 8 Again Plashes the rain in heavy gouts. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 304 A high stockade, with its gateway smeared with blood which hung in gouts. |
† b. Med. = drop n. 3.
Sc. Obs.| 1755 Johnson s.v. Gout 2, Gut for drop is still used in Scotland by physicians. 1757 Walker in Phil. Trans. L. 131 To an ounce of common spring-water there was added two gutts of fresh sweet milk. 1765 Ogilvie & Nairn's Trial 141 (Jam.) Being interrogated, ‘How many guts or drops of laudanum he was in use to take at a dose’; he refuses to answer. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xii, Not a goutte of his physic should gang through my father's son. |
6. A spot of colour resembling a drop. So F.
goutte. (
Cf. goutte Her.)
| 1833 R. Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) II. 17 The parent birds are fed each with ‘a drop of the devil's blood!’..and that infernal draught taints the eggs with those streaks and gouts which in fact make them so beautiful. |
7. attrib. and
Comb., as
gout family,
gout-fit;
gout-creating,
gout-ridden,
gout-swollen,
gout-tormented,
† gout-wit-lamed ppl. adjs.;
gout-fly, the fly (
Chlorops tæniopus or
lineata) whose larva causes the ‘gout’ in wheat;
† gout-justice nonce-wd., ? justice that is halting or tardy, as if with gouty feet;
gout-stone = chalk-stone 3;
gout-stool, a stool to support the foot when affected by gout;
gout-weed, a book-name for the plant
ægopodium Podagraria;
† gout-wheel-chair, a wheeled chair used for a gouty patient;
gout-wort = gout-weed.
| 1802 T. Beddoes Hygëia viii. 166 The *gout-creating action of stimulants. |
| 1829 Syd. Smith in Lady Holland's Mem. (1855) II. 304 My attack..was of the *gout family, but hardly gout itself. |
| a 1693 Aubrey Lives, Milton (1898) II. 67 He [Milton] would be chearfull even in his *gowte-fitts, and sing. |
| 1881 E. A. Ormerod Man. Injur. Insects 77 From this case the Chlorops, or *Gout Fly, comes out towards the end of summer. |
| 1619 Middleton Love & Antiq. Wks. (Bullen) VII. 320 Such is *gout-justice, that's delay in right, Demurs in suits that are as clear as light. |
| 1901 A. E. W. Mason Clementina xix. 235 [He] told the poor *gout-ridden man that the Princess..had put up at the ‘Cervo’ Inn. 1961 Times 31 July 14/3 The peppery, gout-ridden Don Lope. |
| 1794–6 E. Darwin Zoon. (1801) III. 68 *Gout-stones are formed on inflamed membranes. |
| 1886 F. H. Burnett Little Ld. Fauntleroy viii. (1887) 157 It was not agreeable to sit alone..with one foot on a *gout-stool. |
| 1597–8 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. i. 21 His *gout-swolne fist Gropes for his double Ducates in his chist. |
| a 1711 Ken Hymns Evang. Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 61 Internal Fire, and *Gout-tormented Feet. |
| 1776 Withering Brit. Plants I. 181 *Goutweed, ægopodium. 1854 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 296 The root of the gout-weed (ægopodium). |
| 1667 Evelyn Diary 9 Dec., I found him in his garden..sitting in his *gout wheel-chair. |
| 1595 Chapman Ovid's Banq. Sences (1639) 15 They are cripple minded, *Gowt-wit lamed. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccclxxii. 849 Herba Gerardi, is called in English Herbe Gerard, Aish⁓weed, and *Goutwoort. 1670 John Smith England's Improv. Reviv'd 225 Goutwort..The very bearing of this Herb about one easeth the pains of the Gout. |
▪ II. gout, n.2 (
gaʊt)
Also 6, 7, 9
gowt.
[? var. of gote; but cf. F. égout (OF. esgout) sewer.] † 1. ? A stream or flow of water. (
Cf. gote 1,
quot. a 1400–50.)
| c 1400 Sege Jerus. 561 Baches woxen ablode aboute in þe vale, & goutes fram gold wede as goteres þey runne. |
2. A channel for water; a sluice; a covered drain or culvert.
| 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man iv. 315 The ages past haue discharged all their mallice into the age we liue in, as into a gowt or sinke. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 237 With Common Sewes, or Sinks (they call them Goutes) made to run under the ground. 1800 W. Chapman Witham & Welland 29 Vast quantities of water..which used to enter through the Gowt at Langarl. c 1818 Britton Lincolnsh. 557 At the lower end of these are sluices, guarded by gates, termed gowts or gouts. 1851 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. ii. 308 During that time the doors of the gouts used to be over⁓rode. Ibid. 312 The narrow band of salt marsh..is drained by sea-gouts through the frontier banks. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss., Gowt, or Gote, a drain, or channel for water. 1890 Gloucester Gloss., Gout, a covered drain or culvert. |
| attrib. 1682 in Nicholls Forest Dean xv. 233 Through w{supc}{suph} the gout water must necessarily run for draining of the worke. |
▪ III. † gout, v. Obs. rare.
In 5
gowt(e.
[a. OF. and F. goutter, f. goutte drop.] intr. To drop. Of a candle: To gutter.
| a 1400 Med. MS. in Archæol. XXX. 408 Gowtyth. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 206/2 Gowton, as candelys, gutto. |
▪ IV. gout see
go out s.v. go v. 87 s.