¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Dourness
1. the state of being dour [n -ES]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Dourness
Literary usage of Dourness
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Modern Eloquence by Thomas Brackett Reed, Rossiter Johnson, Justin McCarthy, Albert Ellery Bergh (1903)
"Another Scottish trait is " dourness,'' defined in the dictionary as " obstinacy.
... dourness is obstinacy raised to the eighth power. ..."
2. The Celtic Monthly: A Magazine for Highlanders (1900)
"But I'll tell you this, Rob ; that bairn has been far owre much made of, and the
sooner that dourness is taken out of him the better, baith for him and ..."
3. Sunset by Southern Pacific Company, Southern Pacific Company. Passenger Dept (1915)
"The dourness of the ancestral lineaments were ever a baffling mystery to those
who tried to trace in them a family resemblance to the flower-like features ..."
4. Harper's New Monthly Magazine by Henry Mills Alden (1882)
"They are rather grave and stiff in their manner, but they have little of
that "dourness" which is supposed to belong to tho Scotch. ..."
5. The Living Age by Making of America Project, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell (1913)
"Age tends to free us from intellectual dourness, and, by doing so, discourages
the manufacture and application of labels. You may, if you like, ..."
6. The Bookman (1907)
"... the marks of its origin will still be stamped indelibly upon the face of New
England. The very dourness which persuades these stern men ..."
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