strut
Meanings
- Of a peacock or other fowl: to stand or walk stiffly, with the tail erect and spread out.
- To walk haughtily or proudly with one's head held high.
- To walk across or on (a stage or other place) haughtily or proudly.
- Often followed by out: to protuberate or stick out due to being full or swollen; to bulge, to swell.
- Often followed by out: to cause (something) to bulge, protrude, or swell.
- A step or walk done stiffly and with the head held high, often due to haughtiness or pride; affected dignity in walking.
- An instrument for adjusting the pleats of a ruff.
- A beam or rod providing support.
- An act of strutting (“bracing or supporting (something) by a strut or struts (sense 1); attaching diagonally; bending at a sharp angle”); specifically, deviation (of the spoke of a wheel) from the normal position.
- To brace or support (something) by a strut or struts; to hold (something) in place or strengthen by a diagonal, transverse, or upright support.
- To be attached diagonally or at a slant; also, to be bent at a sharp angle.
- Swelling out due to being full; bulging, protuberant, swollen.
- Drunk, intoxicated; fou.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English strouten, struten (“to bulge, swell; to protrude, stick out; to bluster, threaten; to object forcefully; to create a disturbance; to fight; to display one's clothes in a proud or vain manner”) [and other forms], from Old English strūtian (“to project out; stand out stiffly; to exert oneself, struggle”), from Proto-Germanic *strūtōną, *strūtijaną (“to be puffed up, swell”), from Proto-Indo-European *streudʰ- (“rigid, stiff”), from *(s)ter- (“firm; strong; rigid, stiff”). The English word is cognate with Danish strutte (“to bulge, bristle”), Low German strutt (“stiff”), Middle High German striuzen (“to bristle; to ruffle”) (modern German strotzen (“to bristle up”), sträußen (obsolete, except in Alemannic)); and compare Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌿𐍄𐍃𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌻 (þrutsfill, “leprosy”), Old Norse þrútinn (“swollen”). The noun is derived from the verb. Noun sense 2 (“instrument for adjusting the pleats of a ruff”) appears to be due to a misreading of a 16th-century work which used the word stroout (strouted (“caused (something) to bulge, protrude, or swell; strutted”)).