Forms: α. 4 stiborn(e, -(o)urne, styborn(e, 5 stiburn, styburne. β. 5–6 stoburne, 6 stobburne, stoberne, -orne. γ. 5 stuborn, 6 stubberne, -(o)urne, stuburne, 6–7 stubborne, (6 stouborne, -urne, 8 stouborn), 6– stubborn. [Of uncertain etymology.
The commonly assumed derivation from STUB sb. presents no great difficulty with regard to the sense (‘as if immovable as a stub or stock’), but is not easy to justify morphologically. It has been suggested that the word represents an OE. *stybbor f. stybb STUB sb., the final n being supposed to be due to a false analysis of styburnesse, stobournesse etc. (see STUBBORNNESS). But -or was not a living suffix in OE.; the words containing it are inherited from OTeut., and are not formed on noun-stems but on verbal roots. The early spelling of stubbornness with only one n is of no significance; more noteworthy, however, is the spelling stoberlie in our first example of the adv. The fluctuation in the vowel (see the Forms above) might be supposed to be an argument in favor of derivation from STUB sb. (OE. stybb, stubb, *stobb); but it should be noted that a similar fluctuation appears in the forms of STUBBLE sb., which is of Romanic origin.]
1. Of persons or animals: Pertinacious or dogged in refusing obedience or compliance; unyielding, inflexible, obstinate: chiefly in bad sense, unreasonably obstinate. In early use app. sometimes with stronger notion: † Untamable, implacable, ruthless, fierce.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 456. And I was yong and ful of ragerye, Stibourne and strong and ioly as a pye. Ibid., 637. Stibourne I was as is a Leonesse.
c. 1430. Lydg., Jack Hare, ii. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 52. This boy N. ful stuborn [MS. Laud styborne] of his bonys, Sluggy on morwe his leemys up to dresse, A gentil harlot chose out for the nonys, Sone and cheeff heir to dame Idilnesse. Ibid. (1430), Order of Fools, xiv. Ibid., 168. And he that holdithe a quarel agayn right, Holdyng hys purpos stiburn ageyn reson.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 475/1. Styburne, or stoburne (or sterne), austerus, ferox.
1508. Fisher, Ps. cii. Wks. (1876), 194. Who is now soo stoburne and euyll wylled that his herte coude not melte and be kyndeled with the fyre of charyte.
1526. Tindale, Rom. i. 31. Beynge full of all vnrighteous doynge,… vnlovynge, stouborne [Gr. ἀσπόνδους, 1611 implacable] and merciles. Ibid. (1530), Exod. xxxiv. 9. It is a stuburne [Coverdale (lit. from Heb.) hard-neckt, 1611 stiff-necked] people.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Peruicax,… yll to intreate, stubbourne, obstinate.
1550. Crowley, Epigr., 783. For syth thou arte a stout priest an example thou shalt be That all stouburne priestes may take warnyng by thee.
1594. in Maitl. Club Misc., I. 68. Johnne Kincaid … remaning stubburne to the citationis and admonitionis of the Kirk.
1634. Milton, Comus, 434. Som say no evil thing that walks by night … Blew meager Hag, or stubborn unlaid ghost,… Hath hurtfull power o’re true virginity.
1687. P. Ayres, in Minor Caroline Poets (1906), II. 309. With Patience also will the country swain … make the stubborn heifer bow Its neck to th’ yoke.
1702. Yalden, Æsop at Court, vi. 28. But peevish Age,… Like Woman’s Stouborn, Impotent and Loud.
1767. Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Women, II. xiii. 255. A disputatious … and stubborn female will always offend.
1781. Crabbe, Library, 43. Books … soothe the grieved, the stubborn they chastise.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., II. ii. The barons of England are a stubborn and haughty race.
1874. Green, Short Hist., viii. § 5. 503. The people were as stubborn as their King.
1901. T. R. Glover, Life & Lett. 4th Cent., x. 240. ‘An exquisite poet but a most stubborn heathen’ says Orosius of Claudian.
b. Of dispositions, resolves, speech or action: Characterized by obstinacy.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 83 b. Yf thou speke ony false stubborne or foule worde.
1581. Lambarde, Eiren., IV. xiv. (1588), 561. A punishment inflicted by the law, upon his contumacie and stubburne silence.
1611. Bible, Judges ii. 19. They ceased not from their owne doings, nor from their stubborne way.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 193. The River-dragon tam’d at length submits To let his sojourners depart, and oft Humbles his stubborn heart.
a. 1704. Locke, Ess. St. Paul’s Epist. (1707), Pref. p. xvii. All this … is to be had only from the Epistles themselves, and to be gather’d from thence with stubborn Attention, and more than common Application.
1750. Johnson, Rambler, No. 87, ¶ 2. This stubborn resistance of the most pathetic persuasion.
1809. Scott, Poacher, 151. Stout were their hearts, and stubborn was their strife.
1864. Soc. Sci. Rev., 399. We honour our brave soldiers, we glory in their stubborn deeds of daring.
1868. Miss Yonge, Cameos, I. xii. 80. His stubborn disposition was unchanged.
c. transf.
1612. Two Noble K., V. i. 13. Before the holy Altars … bow downe your stubborne bodies.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. i. 17. A Wight was he,… That never bent his stubborn knee To any thing but Chivalry.
1688. Prior, On Exod. iii. 14, viii. Low, reverently low, Make thy stubborn Knowledge bow.
d. quasi-sb.
1871. Chamb. Jrnl., 23 Dec., 801/2. The 45th, or ‘Sherwood Foresters’ … is also known as the ‘Old Stubborns.’
2. Of things: Refractory to treatment, intractable; difficult to subdue, work, cure, etc.
1514. Barclay, Crt. & Uplondyshman (Percy Soc.), 17. Lyke as the grounde, is dull stony, and toughe, Stubberne and hevy, rebellynge to the ploughe.
1541. Copland, Galyen’s Terap., 2 A liij. Some vlceres are stubburne and defycyle to be healed.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. iii. 55. I feare these stubborn lines lack power to moue.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XIII. 56. To whom, the black Oxe all day long hath turn’d The stubborne fallowes vp.
1718. Pope, Iliad, XVIII. 546. In hissing Flames huge silver Bars are roll’d, And stubborn Brass, and Tin, and solid Gold.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 87. An old Stubborn Pain in the Back.
1757. Gray, Elegy, vii. Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke.
1820. Hazlitt, Lect. Dram. Lit., 35. We are of a stiff clay, not moulded into every fashion, with stubborn joints not easily bent.
1865. Ruskin, Sesame, i. § 26. Most men’s minds are indeed little better than rough heath wilderness, neglected and stubborn.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 605. The larger doses being reserved for local caustic effects in stubborn patches [of lichen].
Proverb. 1732. Budgell, Liberty & Property, II. 76–7. But as plain Matters of Fact are terrible stubborn Things, Mr. Walsingham does not at all meddle with any of these.
1733. Copy Will of Matt. Tindal, 23. Matters of Fact, which as Mr. Budgell somewhere observes, are very Stubborn Things.
1799. Med. Jrnl., II. 270. Facts being stubborn things, it seemed necessary to examine these worms.
c. 1853. Kingsley, Misc. (1859), I. 8. There is no more to be said about the matter, save that facts are stubborn things.
† b. Of wines: ? Not easily cleared. Obs.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 872/2. It sometimes happens that wines scuddy and stubborn will not fall with one or even two forcings.
3. Of material things: Hard, stiff, rigid. Obs. exc. of wood or stone (with some notion of sense 2).
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. 128. His hide not hard, or stubborne in feeling [L. corium attactu non asperum ac durum].
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, XV. ii. They started vp, and euerie tender lim In sturdie steele and stubburne plate they dight.
1604. N. F., Fruiterers Secrets, 14. Bee carefull to pul the stubborne ends of the fearne, cleane through the basket, that so they may be on the out-side.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XXIV. ii. 242. All glittering with their bright helmets and terribly clad in stiffe and stubborne jacks.
1610. Beaum. & Fl., Scornf. Lady, IV. i. For like strict men of order, they doe correct their bodies with a bench, or a poore stubborne table.
1630. Davenant, Just Ital., V. i. I 3. Ere long we must be cold,… and wrapp’d in stubborne sheets Of lead.
1681. R. Knox, Hist. Relat. Ceylon, 16. This Skin is hard and stubborn like a piece of Board.
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. 315. I observed their Cloath to be all of … equal fineness; but ’tis stubborn when new.
1770. Luckombe, Hist. Printing, 256. Brown and stubborn paper that has not been well prepared for the Press.
a. 1789. G. White, Selborne, To Pennant, iv. This rag is rugged and stubborn, and will not hew to a smooth face.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 767. The trees were … of a wood so hard and stubborn, that [etc.].
18[?]. Marble-Worker, § 35 (Cent.). Stubborn marble is that which, on account of its excessive hardness, is very difficult to work, and is apt to fly off in splinters.
1890. Stanley, In Darkest Africa (ed. 4), I. viii. 174. The bow is of stubborn hard brown wood, about three feet long.
4. Comb.: adverbial with another adj., as in stubborn-chaste, -hard, -stout (nonce-wds.); parasynthetic, as stubborn-hearted, -shafted.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. i. 100. He’s as teachy to be woo’d to woe, As she is stubborne, chast [read *stubborne-chast] against all suite. Ibid. (1595), John, IV. i. 67. Are you more *stubborne-hard, then hammer’d Iron.
1530. Palsgr., 326/1. *Stoburne herted, fel.
1635. Jackson, Creed, VIII. ii. 12. These … did not so much affect the stubborne hearted Jews.
a. 1680. Butler, Sat., Rem. (1759), I. 69. Enough to fright the stubborn’st-hearted Age.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 969. A gloom of *stubborn-shafted oaks.
1608. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. IV. Decay, 1114. Can you lesse piteous be To these Self-yeelders … Than sternly-valiant to the *stubborn-stout.
