Etymology 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. Compare Dutch bocht and German Bucht. For the sense development compare bender.
A period of something, especially one painful or unpleasant, like an illness.
a bout of drought
a coughing bout
4 more examples
a long bout of the flu
I've boxed in exhibition bouts to entertain the crowds.
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:
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:
6
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A bulge or widening in a musical instrument, such as either of the two characteristic bulges of a guitar.
7
Dated The going and returning of a plough, or other implement used to mark the ground and create a headland, across a field.
The outside bout of each land is ploughed two inches deeper, and from thence the water runs into cross furrows, which are dug with a spade […] I have an instrument of great power, called a scarifier, for this purpose. It is drawn by four horses, and completely prepares the land for the seed at each bout.1809, “A Letter to Sir John Sinclair […] containing a Statement of the System under which a considerable Farm is profitably managed in Hertfordshire. Given at the request of the Board. By Thomas Greg, Esq.”, in The Farmer's Magazine, page 395:
It is in this manner that the ploughs are reversed at the termination of each bout of the field.1922, “An Ingenious One-Way Agrimotor”, in The Commercial Motor, volume 34, Temple Press, page 32:
1 more example
The last two rounds must be ploughed shallower, and on the last bout the strip left should be one furrow width for a two-furrow plough, two for a three-furrow, and so on. […]1976, Claude Culpin, Farm Machinery, page 60:
Etymology 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. Compare Dutch bocht and German Bucht. For the sense development compare bender.