stound means an hour. It carries an Arena rating of 1687, earned across 57 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, stound ranks #722 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #2,463 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #2,718 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #3,398 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
stound is pronounced /staʊnd/.
Why “stound” is a great word
STOUND — [Noun, Verb] A brief, measured interval of time; or, to ache with a sudden, acute pang. From Middle English stound, from Old English stund ("a period of time, hour"), from Proto-West Germanic *stundu, from Proto-Germanic *stundō ("point in time"), from the Proto-Indo-European root *steh₂- ("to stand"). Unlike "moment"—a neutral flicker—or "ache"—a persistent, dull throb—a stound is time measured by feeling, and to stound is pain that arrives with the precision of a clock strike. It is the particular heaviness of a single, silent hour before dawn; the sharp stitch in the side that marks a runner's limit; the tangible weight of a remembered grief that visits as one perfectly discrete minute. To live is to accumulate these measured pangs, each a standing stone in a private chronology.
Etymology
From Middle English stond, stounde, stound (“hour, time, season, moment”), from Old English stund (“a period of time, while, hour, occasion”), from Proto-West Germanic *stundu, from Proto-Germanic *stundō (“point in time, hour”), from Proto-Indo-European *stut- (“prop”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”). Cognate with Scots stound (“while, period of time, moment, sudden pain, pang, stroke, blow”), dated Dutch stond (“hour, time, moment”), Low German Stund (“hour”), German Stunde (“hour”), Danish stund (“time, while”), and Swedish stund (“time, while”). Compare Middle English stunden (“to linger, stay, remain for a while”), Icelandic stunda (“to frequent, pursue”). Related to stand.
noun
- An hour.e.g.“What booth wilt thou have? our king reply'd / Now tell me in this stound” — 1765, Percy's Reliques, The King and the Tanner of Tamworth (original license: 1564)
- A tide, season.
- A time, length of time, hour, while.e.g.“He lay and slept, and swet a stound, / And became whole and sound.” — 1801, Walter Scott, The Talisman:
- A brief span of time, moment, instant.e.g.“Listen to me a little stound.”
- A moment or instance of urgency; exigence.
- A sharp or sudden pain; a shock, an attack.e.g.“No wonder that they cried unto the Lord, and felt a stound of despair shake their courage” — 1857, Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture:
- A stroke or blow (from an object or weapon); (by extension) a lashing; scourginge.g.“How many pipes, as many sounds Do still impart To your Sonne's hart / As many deadly wounds : How many strokes, as many stounds, Each stroke a dart, Each stound a smart, Poore captive me confounds.” — 1807, Sir Egerton Brydges, Censura Literaria:
- A fit, an episode or sudden outburst of emotion; a rush.
- Astonishment; amazement.e.g.“Lightly he started up out of that stound.” — 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- A stand; a stop.
- A receptacle for holding small beer.e.g.“Will Ardnamurchan never end? We're four stounds in a metal box [...]” — 1987, Alastair Mackie, Ingaidherins: Selected Poems - Page 54:
verb
- To hurt, pain, smart.e.g.“Your wrath, weak boy ? Tremble at mine unless
Retraction follow close upon the heels
Of that late stounding insult […]” — 1819, John Keats, Otho the Great, act IV, scene II, verses 93-95:
- To be in pain or sorrow, mourn.
- To long or pine after, desire.e.g.“Recently weaned children "stound after the breast."” — 1823, Edward Moor, Suffolk words and phrases: or, An attempt to collect the lingual localisms of that county:
- To stand still; stop.
- To stop to listen; pause.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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