durst

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word durst. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word durst, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say durst in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word durst you have here. The definition of the word durst will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofdurst, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Durst

English

Pronunciation

Verb

durst

  1. (archaic, literary) simple past of dare
    • Traditional rhyme
      Four and twenty tailors went to kill a snail; the best man among them durst not touch her tail.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , lines 82-83:
      Pretty soul! She durst not lie / Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.
    • 1613–1614 (date written), John Fletcher, William Shakspeare, The Two Noble Kinsmen: , London: Tho Cotes, for Iohn Waterson;  , published 1634, →OCLC, Act I, scene iii, page 2:
      That thou durst, Arcite!
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, line 49:
      Who durst defy th' omnipotent to arms.
    • 1830, The Book of Mormon:
      And they durst not steal, for fear of the law, for such were punished; neither durst they rob, nor murder, for he that murdered was punished unto death.
    • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “6, Monk Samson”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):
      Coming home, therefore, I sat me down secretly under the Shrine of St. Edmund, fearing lest our Lord Abbot should seize and imprison me, though I had done no mischief; nor was there a monk who durst speak to me, nor a laic who durst bring me food except by stealth.
    • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
      Captain Smollett, the squire, and Dr. Livesey were talking together on the quarter-deck, and, anxious as I was to tell them my story, I durst not interrupt them openly.
    • 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, XXX, lines 1-2:
      Others, I am not the first,
      Have willed more mischief than they durst

Derived terms

Anagrams

Yola

Etymology

From Middle English tursid, past of Middle English trussen (“to go, depart, get moving”), from Old French trousser.

Pronunciation

Verb

durst

  1. crossed
    • 1927, “ZONG OF TWI MAARKEET MOANS”, in THE ANCIENT DIALECT OF THE BARONIES OF FORTH AND BARGY, COUNTY WEXFORD, page 129, line 10:
      Van a vierd durst a bargher an a haar galshied too,
      When a weasel crossed the road, and a hare gazed at me too,

References

  • Kathleen A. Browne (1927) The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Sixth Series, Vol.17 No.2, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 129
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia