Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
STALWART, adj. Also -vart, -ward, -warth, -worth; ¶sta'-. Strong, stout, powerful, valiant, of persons and things. The -wart form is a 14th-c. Sc. variant of Eng. stalworth, which became obsolete in the 17th-c. This Sc. form was then adopted in Eng. in the earlier part of the 19th-c. under the influence of Scott, who uses both forms (see quots.).Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore (S.T.S.) 129:
He turns him till The stour an' stalvart laird of Aikenhill.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) I. 158:
Thus over Spey all safely came, That rapid river and stalward stream.Sc. 1808 Scott Marmion i. v.:
He was a stalworth knight and keen.Sc. 1810 Scott Lady of Lake i. xxviii.:
Whose stalwart arm might brook to wield A blade like this in battle-field.Sc. 1819 Scott Leg. Montrose ii.:
A pair of stalwarth arms, and legs conform.Abd. 1917 D. G. Mitchell Clachan Kirk 56:
O, yon big, sta'wart, horny-handit men!
