▪ I. stubborn, a.
(ˈstʌbən)
Forms: α. 4 stiborn(e, -(o)urne, styborn(e, 5 stiburn, styburne. β. 5–6 stoburne, 6 stobburne, stoberne, -orne. γ. 5 stuborn, 6 stubberne, -(o)urne, stuburne, 6–7 stubborne, (6 stouborne, -urne, 8 stouborn), 6– stubborn.
[Of uncertain etymology.
The commonly assumed derivation from stub n. presents no great difficulty with regard to the sense (‘as if immovable as a stub or stock’), but is not easy to justify morphologically. It has been suggested that the word represents an OE. *stybbor f. stybb stub n., the final n being supposed to be due to a false analysis of styburnesse, stobournesse etc. (see stubbornness). But -or was not a living suffix in OE.; the words containing it are inherited from OTeut., and are not formed on noun-stems but on verbal roots. The early spelling of stubbornness with only one n is of no significance; more noteworthy, however, is the spelling stoberlie in our first example of the adv. The fluctuation in the vowel (see the Forms above) might be supposed to be an argument in favour of derivation from stub n. (OE. stybb, stubb, *stobb); but it should be noted that a similar fluctuation appears in the forms of stubble n., which is of Romanic origin.]
1. a. Of persons or animals: Pertinacious or dogged in refusing obedience or compliance; unyielding, inflexible, obstinate: chiefly in bad sense, unreasonably obstinate. In early use app. sometimes with stronger notion: † Untameable, implacable, ruthless, fierce.
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 456 And I was yong and ful of ragerye, Stibourne and strong and ioly as a pye. Ibid. 637 Stibourne I was as is a Leonesse. c 1430 Lydg. Jack Hare ii. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 52 This boy N. ful stuborn [MS. Laud styborne] of his bonys, Sluggy on morwe his leemys up to dresse, A gentil harlot chose out for the nonys, Sone and cheeff heir to dame Idilnesse. 1430 ― Order of Fools xiv. Ibid. 168 And he that holdithe a quarel agayn right, Holdyng hys purpos stiburn ageyn reson. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 475/1 Styburne, or stoburne (or sterne), austerus, ferox. 1508 Fisher Ps. cii. Wks. (1876) 194 Who is now soo stoburne and euyll wylled that his herte coude not melte and be kyndeled with the fyre of charyte. 1526 Tindale Rom. i. 31 Beynge full of all vnrighteous doynge,..vnlovynge, stouborne [Gr. ἀσπόνδους, 1611 implacable] and merciles. 1530 ― Exod. xxxiv. 9 It is a stuburne [Coverdale (lit. from Heb.) hard-neckt, 1611 stiff-necked] people. 1538 Elyot Dict., Peruicax,..yll to intreate, stubbourne, obstinate. 1550 Crowley Epigr. 783 For syth thou arte a stout priest an example thou shalt be That all stouburne priestes may take warnyng by thee. 1594 in Maitl. Club Misc. I. 68 Johnne Kincaid..remaning stubburne to the citationis and admonitionis of the Kirk. 1634 Milton Comus 434 Som say no evil thing that walks by night..Blew meager Hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost,..Hath hurtfull power o're true virginity. 1687 P. Ayres in Minor Caroline Poets (1906) II. 309 With Patience also will the country swain..make the stubborn heifer bow Its neck to th' yoke. 1702 Yalden æsop at Court vi. 28 But peevish Age,..Like Woman's Stouborn, Impotent and Loud. 1767 Fordyce Serm. Yng. Women II. xiii. 255 A disputatious..and stubborn female will always offend. 1781 Crabbe Library 43 Books.. soothe the grieved, the stubborn they chastise. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. ii. ii, The barons of England are a stubborn and haughty race. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §5. 503 The people were as stubborn as their King. 1901 T. R. Glover Life & Lett. 4th Cent. x. 240 ‘An exquisite poet but a most stubborn heathen’ says Orosius of Claudian. |
b. Of dispositions, resolves, speech or action: Characterized by obstinacy.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 83 b, Yf thou speke ony false stubborne or foule worde. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. iv. xiv. (1588) 561 A punishment inflicted by the law, upon his contumacie and stubburne silence. 1611 Bible Judges ii. 19 They ceased not from their owne doings, nor from their stubborne way. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 193 The River-dragon..at length submits To let his sojourners depart, and oft Humbles his stubborn heart. a 1704 Locke Ess. St. Paul's Epist. (1707) Pref. p. xvii, All this..is to be had only from the Epistles themselves, and to be gather'd from thence with stubborn Attention, and more than common Application. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 87 ¶2 This stubborn resistance of the most pathetic persuasion. 1809 Scott Poacher 151 Stout were their hearts, and stubborn was their strife. 1864 Soc. Sci. Rev. 399 We honour our brave soldiers, we glory in their stubborn deeds of daring. 1868 C. M. Yonge Cameos I. xii. 80 His stubborn disposition was unchanged. |
c. transf.| 1612 Two Noble K. v. i. 13 Before the holy Altars..bow downe your stubborne bodies. 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 17 A Wight was he,..That never bent his stubborn knee To any thing but Chivalry. 1688 Prior On Exod. iii. 14 viii, Low, reverently low, Make thy stubborn Knowledge bow. |
d. quasi-n.| 1871 Chamb. Jrnl. 23 Dec. 801/2 The 45th, or ‘Sherwood Foresters’,..is also known as the ‘Old Stubborns’. |
2. a. Of things; Refractory to treatment, intractable; difficult to subdue, work, cure, etc.
| 1514 Barclay Cit. & Uplondyshman (Percy Soc.) 17 Lyke as the grounde, is dull stony, and toughe, Stubberne and hevy, rebellynge to the ploughe. 1541 Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 A iiij, Some vlceres are stubburne and defycyle to be healed. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 55, I feare these stubborn lines lack power to moue. 1615 Chapman Odyss. xiii. 56 To whom, the black Oxe all day long hath turn'd The stubborne fallowes vp. 1718 Pope Iliad xviii. 546 In hissing Flames huge silver Bars are roll'd, And stubborn Brass, and Tin, and solid Gold. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physick (1762) 87 An old Stubborn Pain in the Back. 1757 Gray Elegy vii, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 35 We are of a stiff clay, not moulded into every fashion, with stubborn joints not easily bent. 1865 Ruskin Sesame i. §26 Most men's minds are indeed little better than rough heath wilderness, neglected and stubborn. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 605 The larger doses being reserved for local caustic effects in stubborn patches [of lichen]. |
| Proverb. 1732 Budgell Liberty & Property ii. 76 But as plain Matters of Fact are terrible stubborn Things, Mr. Walsingham does not at all meddle with any of these. 1733 Copy Will of Matt. Tindal 23 Matters of Fact, which as Mr. Budgell somewhere observes, are very Stubborn Things. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 270 Facts being stubborn things, it seemed necessary to examine these worms. c 1853 Kingsley Misc. (1859) I. 8 There is no more to be said about the matter, save that facts are stubborn things. |
† b. Of wines: ? Not easily cleared.
Obs.| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 872/2 It sometimes happens that wines scuddy and stubborn will not fall with one or even two forcings. |
3. Of material things: Hard, stiff, rigid.
Obs. exc. of wood or stone (with some notion of sense 2).
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. 128 His hide not hard, or stubborne in feeling [L. corium attactu non asperum ac durum]. 1600 Fairfax Tasso xv. ii, They started vp, and euerie tender lim In sturdie steele and stubburne plate they dight. 1604 N. F. Fruiterers Secr. 14 Bee carefull to put the stubborne ends of the fearne cleane through the basket. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxiv. ii. 242 All glittering with their bright helmets and terribly clad in stiffe and stubborne jacks. 1610 Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady iv. i, For like strict men of order, they doe correct their bodies with a bench, or a poore stubborne table. 1630 Davenant Just Ital. v. i. I 3, Ere long we must be cold,..and wrapp'd in stubborne sheets Of lead. 1681 R. Knox Hist. Relat. Ceylon 16 This Skin is hard and stubborn like a piece of Board. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 315, I observed their Cloath to be all of..equal fineness; but 'tis stubborn when new. 1770 Luckombe Hist. Printing 256 Brown and stubborn paper that has not been well prepared for the Press. a 1789 G. White Selborne, To Pennant iv, This rag is rugged and stubborn, and will not hew to a smooth face. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 767 The trees were..of a wood so hard and stubborn, that [etc.]. 18.. Marble-Worker §35 (Cent.) Stubborn marble is that which, on account of its excessive hardness, is very difficult to work, and is apt to fly off in splinters. 1890 Stanley In Darkest Africa (ed. 4) I. viii. 174 The bow is of stubborn hard brown wood, about three feet long. |
4. Comb.: adverbial with another
adj., as in
stubborn-chaste,
stubborn-hard,
stubborn-stout (nonce-wds.); parasynthetic, as
stubborn-hearted,
stubborn-shafted.
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. i. 100 He's as teachy to be woo'd to woe, As she is stubborne, chast [read *stubborne-chast] against all suite. |
| 1595 ― John iv. i. 67 Are you more *stubborne-hard, then hammer'd Iron. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 326/1 *Stoburne herted, fel. 1635 Jackson Creed viii. ii. 12 These..did not so much affect the stubborne hearted Jews. a 1680 Butler Sat. Rem. (1759) I. 69 Enough to fright the stubborn'st-hearted Age. 1906 W. B. Yeats Poems, 1899–1905 55 Women are hard and proud and stubborn-hearted. |
| 1859 Tennyson Enid 969 A gloom of *stubborn-shafted oaks. |
| 1608 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iv. Decay 1114 Can you lesse piteous be To these Self-yeelders..Than sternly-valiant to the *stubborn-stout. |
▪ II. stubborn, v. Only
poet. (
ˈstʌbən)
[f. prec.] trans. To make stubborn; to harden, make firm, render capable of resistance.
| 1820 Keats Hyperion ii. 17 Couches of rugged stone, and slaty ridge Stubborn'd with iron. 1874 D. Gray Poet. Wks. 27 These twenty had themselves inured And stubborned to perfection. 1902 F. Thompson in Academy 12 Apr. 378/1 Who must call on the cannon to compact The hard Dutch-stubborned land. |