lout

plural louts

1. A troublemaker, often violent; a rude violent person; a yob.

   You see louts fresh from school kicking grey-haired servants.

   1934 October, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 5, in Burmese Days, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, →OCLC

   1 more example

   But the lout looked only to his market, and was not easily repulsed. “He’s there, I tell you,” he persisted. “And for threepence I’ll get you to see him. Come on, your honour! It’s many a Westminster election I’ve seen, and beer running, from Mr. Fox,[…]when maybe it’s your honour’s going to stand! Anyway, it’s, Down with the mongers!”

   1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The Dissolution”, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 6

   Synonyms: agitator, bad boy, bad news, bear, beggar, bhoy, blackguard, booger

2. A clownish, awkward fellow; a bumpkin.

   Sebaſtian, I haue entertained thee, / Partly that I haue neede of ſuch a youth, / That can with ſome diſcretion doe my buſineſſe: / For ’tis no truſting to yond fooliſh Lowt;

   c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 35, column 1

   1 more example

   The faire Pamela, whose noble hart I finde doth greatly disdaine, that the trust of her vertue is reposed in such a louts hands, as Dametas, had yet to shew an obedience, taken on a shepeardish apparell[…]

   The New Arcadia

   c. 1580 (date written), Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC

   Synonyms: bogan, boor, bumpkin, chawbacon, chuff, churl, clenchpoop, clown

present singular third person louts · participle present louting · participle past louted · past louted

1. obsoletetransitiveTo treat as a lout or fool; to neglect; to disappoint.

   Renowned Talbot doth expect my ayde, / And I am lowted by a Traitor Villaine, / And cannot helpe the noble Cheualier:[…]

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 112, column 1

present singular third person louts · participle present louting · participle past louted · past louted

1. archaicintransitiveTo bend, bow, stoop.

   And the priest devoutly crossed himself, and turned and louted to the alter.

   1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Dead Spy”, in The Black Arrow

   2 more examples

   He faire the knight ſaluted, louting low, / Who faire him quited, as that courteous was[…].

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 11

   He took the cup in his hand and, louting low, returned his best thanks[…].

   1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume I, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC, page 88