Bout Meaning
/ˈbaʊt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA period of something, especially one painful or unpleasant, like an illness.
nounA boxing match.
Sentence Examples
A fussy referee can ruin a bout.
The fighter toughened up for the bout.
The wrestler had his right leg broken in a bout.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After a severe ____ of coughing, the patient finally managed to catch his breath.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
After a short but severe ____ of the flu, he was finally healthy enough to return to work.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English bout, bowt, bught (whence also modern English bought (“bend, curve”)), probably from Old English *buht (“bend, turn”), an unrecorded variant of Old English byht (“a bend, curve”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“a bend”). Equivalent to bow + -t. Doublet of bight and bought. For the sense development compare bender.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The "King" responded well to this treatment and would have maintained 60 m.p.h. up the steepest part had it not been for a brief bout of slipping, which was quickly corrected by Driver Bailes ("Autumn leaves", he remarked laconically)."
— 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Part, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 105:
"Jackson won lasting fame for his treatment of an alcoholic's painful disintegration in his first novel, The Lost Weekend, in which he suggested that the root of his protagonist's bouts with the bottle could be found in his repressed homosexuality."
— 2001, Susan Stryker, Queer Pulp, page 14:
"Pope Francis was admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital on Friday, February 14, 2025, after suffering from a bout of bronchitis for several days."
— 2025 April 21, Devin Watkins, “Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday aged 88”, in Vatican News, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2025:
"An Italian boxer abandoned her bout at the Paris Olympics after only 46 seconds on Thursday, refusing to continue after taking a heavy punch from an Algerian opponent who had been disqualified from last year’s world championships over questions about her eligibility to compete in women’s sports."
— 2024 August 1, Tariq Panja, Jeré Longman, “Italian Boxer Quits Bout, Sparking Furor Over Gender at Olympics”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 22 Aug 2024:
"Then they had bouts of wrestling and of cudgel play, so that every day they gained in skill and strength."
— 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After a severe ____ of coughing, the patient finally managed to catch his breath.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
After a short but severe ____ of the flu, he was finally healthy enough to return to work.