Word.ws English Dictionary

lout

/laʊt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Canada/lʌʊt/

lout noun: a troublemaker, often violent; a rude violent person; a yob.

Noun

lout (plural louts)

  1. A troublemaker, often violent; a rude violent person; a yob.
    • 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!...1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The Dissolution”, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 6
    • 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
  2. A clownish, awkward fellow; a bumpkin.
    • 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[…]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...
    • 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...

Verb (1)

lout (third-person singular simple present louts, present participle louting, simple past and past participle louted)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To 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]...

Verb (2)

lout (third-person singular simple present louts, present participle louting, simple past and past participle louted)

  1. (archaic, intransitive) To bend, bow, stoop.
    • 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
    • And the priest devoutly crossed himself, and turned and louted to the alter.1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Dead Spy”, in The Black Arrow

lout meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam

lout in Hindi

troublemaker
गुंडा guṇḍā

lout in Tamil

முட்டாள், அறிவிலி, முரடன், அசிங்கமானவன், ள், ர்

lout in Urdu

بھونڈا, غیرمہذب

lout in Malayalam

thug, ruffian, hooligan
മുറടൻ, മുട്ടാളൻ, മുട്ടാൾ, പ്രാകൃതൻ, തെമ്മാടി, അപരിഷ്കൃതൻ
More languagesFewer languages
lout in Kannada
ಒರಟ, ಒಡ್ಡ, ನಯನಾಜೂಕಿಲ್ಲದವ, ನಯನಾಜೂಕಿಲ್ಲದವನು

Examples of lout in a sentence

  • But the lout looked only to his market, and was not easily repulsed.1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, “The Dissolution”, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC, page 6:
  • 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...

All 12 example sentences with lout

Synonyms of lout

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of lout

Forms of lout

Noun
plurallouts
Verb
third-person singular presentlouts
present participlelouting
past participlelouted
pastlouted

Origin of lout

Of dialectal origin, likely derived from Middle English louten (“to bow, bend low, stoop over”), from Old English lūtan (“to bow, bend forward, stoop”), from Proto-West Germanic *lūtan, from Proto-Germanic *lūtaną (“to bow down, lout”). Alternatively, derived from Middle English louten (“to hide, lurk”), from Old English lūtian (“to lurk, skulk”), from Proto-West Germanic *lūtēn (“to be hidden, be concealed”). Compare Old Norse lútr (“stooping”), Gothic 𐌻𐌿𐍄𐍉𐌽 (lutōn, “to deceive”). Non-Germanic cognates are probably Old Church Slavonic лоудити (luditi, “to deceive”), Serbo-Croatian lud and Albanian lut (“to beg, pray”).

From Middle English louten, from Old English lūtan, from Proto-West Germanic *lūtan, from Proto-Germanic *lūtaną. Cognate with Old Norse lúta, Danish lude (“to bend”), Norwegian lute (“stoop”), Swedish luta.

Words formed from lout

Words that rhyme with lout

42 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about lout

What does lout mean?
Lout means a troublemaker, often violent; a rude violent person; a yob.
What is lout in Hindi?
Lout in Hindi is गुंडा (guṇḍā). See Lout meaning in Hindi.
How do you use lout in a sentence?
But the lout looked only to his market, and was not easily repulsed.
What part of speech is lout?
Lout can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce lout?
Lout is pronounced /laʊt/.
What is the plural of lout?
The plural of lout is louts.

Words near lout in the dictionary

  1. loustered
  2. loustering
  3. lousters
  4. lousy
  5. lousy evil
  6. lout
  7. loutea
  8. louteas
  9. louted
  10. loutery
  11. Louth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lout (page history and authors); lout (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lout (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); lout (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); lout (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-lout.ogg.

Cite this entry: “lout.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lout. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.