Pout
noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 One's facial expression when pouting.
"2008, Vladimir Nabokov, Natasha, written 1924, translated by Dmitri Nabokov With a pout, Natasha counted the drops, and her eyelashes kept time."
- 2 Any of various fishes such as the hornpout (Ameiurus nebulosus, the brown bullhead), the pouting (Trisopterus luscus) and the eelpouts (Zoarcidae). rare
- 3 Alternative form of poult. alt-of, alternative
- 4 catfish common in eastern United States wordnet
- 5 A fit of sulking or sullenness.
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 marine eellike mostly bottom-dwelling fishes of northern seas wordnet
- 7 a disdainful grimace wordnet
- 1 To push out one's lips. intransitive
- 2 To shoot poults. Scotland
- 3 make a sad face and thrust out one's lower lip wordnet
- 4 To thrust itself outward; to be prominent. intransitive
- 5 be in a huff and display one's displeasure wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 To be or pretend to be ill-tempered; to sulk. intransitive
- 7 To say while pouting. transitive
""Don't you love me any more?" she pouted."
Example
More examples"If Tom doesn't get what he wants, he'll sulk and pout."
Etymology
From Middle English pouten, probably from Scandinavian (compare Norwegian pute (“pillow, cushion”), dial. Swedish puta (“to be puffed out”), Danish pude (“pillow, cushion”)), from Proto-Germanic *pūto (“swollen”) (compare English eelpout, Dutch puit, Low German puddig (“inflated”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bu- (“to swell”) (compare Sanskrit बुद्बुद (budbuda, “bubble”)).
From Middle English *poute, from Old English *pūte as in ǣlepūta, ǣlepūte (“eelpout”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bew- (“to swell”). Related to pout (“to push one's lip out”).
Related phrases
More for "pout"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.