doughty

comparative doughtier · comparative more doughty · superlative doughtiest · superlative most doughty · alternative obsolete doubty

1. archaicliteraryBold; brave, courageous.

   Hurriedly he snatched up others, one or two at a time, until he had slaughtered thirty of Hrothgar's doughtiest earls.

   1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 21

   1 more example

   [S]he [Edwina, mother of Tennessee Williams] was indeed Amanda [Wingfield, character in Williams's play The Glass Menagerie] in the flesh: a doughty chatterbox from Ohio who adopted the manner of a Southern belle and eschewed both drink and sex to the greatest extent possible.

   2014 November 14, Blake Bailey, “‘Tennessee Williams,’ by John Lahr [print version: Theatrical victory of art over life, International New York Times, 18 November 2014, page 13]”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Aug 2019

   Synonyms: dauntless, fearless, intrepid, resolute, stouthearted, valiant, adventurous, mettlesome · Antonyms: backboneless, base, soft, bitch-ass, boneless, caitiff, candy-assed, chicken

2. archaicliteraryRobust, sturdy; strong and perhaps stout.

   Aye, here's a ship of doughty build and strong: But not for lads like you to sail to port.

   1937, Edward Mellor Jameson, Charterhouse

   3 more examples

   One can imagine the enthusiasm with which this young man in his thirties, and not the fat and doughty Quakerish-looking gentleman usually portrayed in the popular picture of Penn as Proprietor, must have entered upon this great adventure.

   1956, Sylvester Kirby Stevens, Pennsylvania, The Keystone State

   The experience was something like going before the Daughters of the American Revolution and advocating communism; but then, doughty matronly bosoms always intimidate me.

   1964, Japan Quarterly

   Her remark invited a deeper look into her face, which seemed to flicker between that of a puckish, energetic man and a rather doughty, sturdy-looking woman.

   1997 December 22, Sarah Boxer, “At Dinner With: Jan Morris; Writer With a Favorite Theme: Reconciliation of Opposites”, in New York Times

3. uncommonCatachresis for dowdy.

plural doughties · alternative obsolete doubty

1. archaicrareA person who is bold or brave.

plural Doughtys · alternative Doughtie · alternative Douty · alternative Dufty

1. A surname transferred from the nickname.