Douth

//daʊθ// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Virtue; excellence; atheldom; nobility; power; riches. obsolete, uncountable, usually
  2. 2
    Alternative form of dought. alt-of, alternative
  3. 3
    A group of people, especially an army or retinue. obsolete, uncountable, usually
  4. 4
    Reliability; ease; security; shelter. dialectal, uncountable, usually

    "There's no^([sic]) much douth in a wire fence."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Snug; comfortable; in easy circumstances. dialectal

Synonyms

All synonyms
virtuevirtue

Example

More examples

"There's no^([sic]) much douth in a wire fence."

Etymology

From Middle English douthe, douth, duweðe (“body of retainers, people, might, dignity, worth”), from Old English duguþ (“manhood, host, multitude, troops”), from Proto-West Germanic *dugunþu, *dugunþi, from Proto-Germanic *dugunþō (“power, competency, notefulness, virtue”), from *duganą (“to be useful”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewgʰ- (“to be ready, be sufficient”). Cognate with North Frisian døgd, døged (“ability, good deed”), Dutch deugd (“virtue”), German Tugend (“virtue”), Swedish dygd (“virtue”), Danish dyd (“virtue”), Icelandic dygð, dyggð (“virtue”). Related to dow, doughty.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.