bout
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
a short period of time when you are suffering from a specific illness or feeling.
a period of time during which an individual suffers from a specific ailment or a recurring condition.
Simple“He is recovering at home after a sudden bout of the flu.”
In context“After a prolonged bout of depression, she found that returning to a structured routine helped her regain a sense of normalcy.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
a boxing or wrestling match, or a similar fight.
a contest or match in a contact sport, most commonly used in the context of boxing, wrestling, or fencing.
Simple“The young boxer won his first professional bout in the third round.”
In context“The heavyweight champion is scheduled for a twelve-round bout next month, which many critics believe will be his final appearance in the ring.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
the curved part of a musical instrument like a guitar or violin.
the characteristic outward curve or bulge in the body of a stringed instrument.
Simple“The guitar has a wide lower bout that helps it produce a deep sound.”
In context“The luthier carefully sanded the upper bout of the cello to ensure the instrument's resonance remained balanced across all registers.”
“Rocky Balboa: Three decades after Rocky, the series comes full circle in 2006, with another long-shot bout against (yet) another champion who takes Rocky too lightly.”
“González missed Gotham’s bout in the Fifa Women’s Champions Cup in January while her partner, Estefanía Cruz, gave birth to their first child.”
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. For the sense development compare bender.
Written form of a reduction of about.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.