stolid meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

stolid

adj

UK /ˈstɒl.ɪd/ · US /ˈstɑːl.ɪd/

Etymology From Middle French stolide, from Latin stolidus (“foolish, obtuse, slow”).

Having or revealing little emotion or sensibility.

He went slowly to his tent and stretched himself on a blanket by the side of the snoring tall soldier. In the darkness he saw visions of a thousand-tongued fear that would babble at his back and cause him to flee, while others were going coolly about their country's business. He admitted that he would not be able to cope with this monster. He felt that every nerve in his body would be an ear to hear the voices, while other men would remain stolid and deaf.1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter II, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, pages 30–31:
“A tinge of Jewish blood is not a bad thing. It leavens the”—she looked at him—“stolid stupidity of the ordinary Englishman.”1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 125:

1 more example

With his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the evening sky red and yellow and black.1950, Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451:

Dully or heavily stupid.

Light laughs the breeze / In her Castle above them — / Babbles the Bee in a stolid Ear, / Pipe the Sweet Birds in ignorant cadence — / Ah, what sagacity perished here!a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “[Book IV.—Time and Eternity] Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers”, in Mabel Loomis Todd and T[homas] W[entworth] Higginson, editors, Poems, First Series, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1890, →OCLC, page 113:
They (Eloi) all failed to understand my gestures; some were simply stolid, some thought it was a jest and laughed at me.1895 May 29, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter V, in The Time Machine: An Invention, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC:

1 more example

Al Gore, Jr., the Democratic candidate, was Clinton's stolid heir; […]2022, Gary Gerstle, chapter 6, in The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order […] , New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, Part II. The Neoliberal Order, 1970–2020: