• (RP) IPA: /ˈstɔː/, /ˈstʊə/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈstɔɹ/, /ˈstʊ(ə)ɹ/

stour

1. (now, rare, outside, dialects) Tall; large; stout.
2. (now, rare, outside, dialects) Strong; powerful; hardy; robust; sturdy.

   O stronge lady stoor, what doest thou?--Chaucer.

3. (now, rare, outside, dialects) Bold; audacious.
4. (now, rare, outside, dialects) Rough in manner; stern; austere; ill-tempered.
5. (now, rare, outside, dialects, of a voice) Rough; hoarse; deep-toned; harsh.
6. (now, rare, outside, dialects, of land or cloth) Stiff; inflexible.
7. (obsolete) Resolute; unyielding.

   In a stour wise.

stour

1. (now chiefly dialectal) Severely; strongly.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈstaʊə/, /ˈstaʊ.ə/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈstaʊəɹ/, /ˈstaʊɹ/

stour (plural stours)

1. A stake.
2. A round of a ladder.
3. A stave in the side of a wagon.
4. A large pole by which barges are propelled against the stream; a poy.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈstɔː/, /ˈstʊə/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈstɔɹ/, /ˈstʊ(ə)ɹ/

stour (plural stours)

1. (obsolete) An armed battle or conflict.
   • a. 1472, Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, OCLC 71490786 ↗; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: Published by David Nutt, […], 1889, OCLC 890162034 ↗:

     , Book V:

     Then there began a passyng harde stoure, for the Romaynes ever wexed ever bygger.

   • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Torquato Tasso, XII, xv:

     This pair, who past have many a dreadful stour, / And proffer now to prove this venture stout, / Alone to this attempt let them go forth, / Alone than thousands of more price and worth.

2. (obsolete) A time of struggle or stress.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938 ↗, book I, canto II:

     Then gan she waile and weepe, to see that woefull stowre.

3. (now dialectal) Tumult, commotion; confusion.
4. (UK dialectal, Ulster) A blowing or deposit of dust; dust in motion or at rest; dust in general.

stour (stours, present participle stouring; past and past participle stoured)

1. Alternative form of stoor

• IPA: /ˈstaʊəɹ/
• (East Anglia) IPA: /ˈstʊəɹ/, /ˈstaʊɹ/

1. A river in Dorset, England, which flows into the English Channel at Christchurch.
2. A river in Kent, England, running from the confluence of the Great Stour and Little Stour to the English Channel at Pegwell Bay.
3. A river in East Anglia flowing into the North Sea at Harwich.
4. A river in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, England, which joins the Warwickshire Avon near Stratford-on-Avon.
5. A river in Staffordshire, West Midlands, and Worcestershire, England, which flows into the River Severn.