Etymology From Middle English goute, from Old French gote, gute, from Latin gutta (“drop”). Compare Spanish gota (“drop, droplet”). Doublet of goutte and gutta. The sense shift derived from humorism and "the notion of the 'dropping' of a morbid material from the blood in and around the joints".
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Medicine, Pathology, Sciences An extremely painful inflammation of joints, especially of the big toe, caused by a metabolic defect resulting in the accumulation of uric acid in the blood and the deposition of urates around the joints.
Once gout was confined largely to Western civilization (with some outliers, like the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan); now its ravages are global.2020 November 13, Ligaya Mishan, “Once the Disease of Gluttonous Aristocrats, Gout Is Now Tormenting the Masses”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 30 Nov 2020:
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Usually, Followed by of A drop; a spurt or splotch.
Alternative forms: gut, gutt
I see thee still, / And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 136:
4 more examples
... of whose wounds were undefined - and every throb of the veins added length to some of the red streams, that wound down the hollows of the indrawn cheeks - some of them ending in half-clotted gouts or drops.1832, Thomas Arnold, Godwin and Goda (cont'd.), page 155:
... there sprang a gout of black and oozy blood. Whereat a great cry went up and James Mure fell forward on the sand as one suddenly stricken dead.1896, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, The Grey Man, W. Briggs, page 311:
... gouts or drops from the hand of Zeus.1914, Arthur Bernard Cook, Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion, CUP Archive, page 323:
... gouts or drops of water on their shield,[…]1921, The Bookman's Journal and Print Collector, page 45:
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Rare A disease of wheat and cornstalks, caused by insect larvae.
Etymology From Middle English goute, from Old French gote, gute, from Latin gutta (“drop”). Compare Spanish gota (“drop, droplet”). Doublet of goutte and gutta. The sense shift derived from humorism and "the notion of the 'dropping' of a morbid material from the blood in and around the joints".
1
To spurt.
Dark blood gouts from the creature's brisket.2001, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Black House:
After a time, however, he became more sensible of the reviving influence proceeding from renewed energy; luxurious indolence had for ever lost to him its goût;[…]1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter XVIII, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 232:
A modern refinement is to put laver in the dripping-pan, which, in basting, imparts a high gout: or a large saddle may be served over a pound and a half of laver, stewed in brown sauce with catsup […]1870, The Cook and Housewife's Manual, 5th edition: