dour, a. orig. Sc.
(duːr)
Also 5 dowre, 6–8 doure, 6– dowr.
[ad. L. dūr-us, or F. dur hard (cf. dure).
Derivation from French is unlikely on account of the vowel, since F. u gives in Sc. not ū but ü (or ö). An early (11th or 12th c.) adoption of L. dūr-us, would suit phonetically; of this however we have no evidence.]
1. Hard, severe, bold, stern, fierce, hardy.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 170 [He] wes dour & stout. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. viii. xvi. 103 Dyntis dowre ware sene. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. vi. [v.] 23 The dour Vlixes als, and Athamas. 1533 Bellenden Livy ii. (1822) 166 Thir legatis wes gevin ane doure answere be Marcius. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. iv. 249 He led a dour and hard lyfe. 1794 Burns Winter Night i, Biting Boreas, fell and doure. 1848 Lytton Harold vi. i, Tostig is a man..dour and haughty. 1891 Atkinson Moorland Par. 261 The dour, merciless intensity of a northern moorland..storm. |
2. Hard to move, stubborn, obstinate, sullen.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace iv. 187 Malancoly he was of complexioun..dour in his contenance. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. vi. 106 All our prayeris..Mycht nowder bow that dowr mannis mynd. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxviii. 76 Our men are dour men. 1816 Scott Old Mort. viii, ‘He's that dour, ye might tear him to pieces, and..ne'er get a word out o' him.’ 1854 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. xvii, Thornton is as dour as a door-nail; an obstinate chap. |
Hence ˈdourly adv., with hard sternness, stubbornly, obstinately; ˈdourness, hardness of disposition, obstinacy, sullenness.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Jacobus minor 337 Thai..in to durnes ay abad. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 918 To ding thame doun dourly that euer war in my way. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. v. 281 And fercely had fochtne thame, and dourlie dantount. 1871 C. Gibbon Lack of Gold iv, ‘Give me those letters, father’, she said dourly. 1882 Sat. Rev. No. 1411. 629 Scotchmen..have the same caution..courage, and ‘dourness’ [as Yorkshiremen]. |