strut

verb

1. (intransitive)Of a peacock or other fowl: to stand or walk stiffly, with the tail erect and spread out.

   “Hark, hark, I heare, the ſtraine of ſtrutting Chanticlere cry cockadidle-dowe.”

   “The pheasant strutteth about in the midst of flowers; / The turtle-dove cooeth, and the nightingale warbleth from the cypress.”

   “He thought that whenne Thanksgyving came he'd looke soe payle & thynne, / He colde avoid ye usual role ye Turkye strutteth inne.”

   “The pond was another favourite place to visit. Moorhens strutted from the neighbouring bushes, and a bevy of Muscovy ducks, a study in black, white and red, waddled from the farmyard hard by to enjoy a refreshing splash.”

2. (also, broadly, figuratively, intransitive)To walk haughtily or proudly with one's head held high.

   “He strutted about the yard, thinking himself master of all he surveyed.”

   “[O]h, I ſhould remember him: do's he not hold vp his head (as it were?) and ſtrut in his gate?”

   “[...] I trow it is enough to make a man forswear the very mother that bore him, and to wish that he had never had one, when one is cooped up in a gloomy hole like this, to watch a door within which strutteth a jackanapes too proud to speak civil to those that approach him.”

   “"With Mosaic cheers unglutted, / Stood he in this vast abode; / As thou struttest, so he strutted, / As thou crowest, so he crow'd— / He the well-beloved of Hansard, / Is he kin, sweet bird, to you?" / But the valiant bantam answer'd— / "Cock-a-doodle-doodle-doo!"”

   “Hast thou nor shame, nor modesty, nor fear? / That thus thou struttest in the face of God, / Spreading thy peacock's feathers, with their gleam?”

3. (broadly, transitive)To walk across or on (a stage or other place) haughtily or proudly.

   “Taking you and your colleagues as the model of modern times, I should almost fear that the John Bull of former days was as different from the John Bull of the present time, as is a broad-shouldered, fearless Highlandman from the dapper cockney who struts the Park by the side of his fellow-milliner.”

   “The frantic father struts the stage, / And swells with true sublimity of rage / Against his son, who leads a wanton life, / And scorns the offer of a dowried wife.”

   “Still garbed in notions wont to gird / Minds in the reign of George the Third, / He strutteth an embodied tameness / In a sober suit of sameness.”

4. (intransitive, obsolete)Often followed by out: to protuberate or stick out due to being full or swollen; to bulge, to swell.

   “Sometimes [the clitoris] groweth to such a length that it hangeth without the cleft like a mans member, especially when it is fretted with the touch of the cloaths, and so strutteth and groweth to a rigiditie as doth the yarde [penis] of a man.”

   “If the right breaſt ſwell and ſtrut out the Boy is well, if it flag it is a ſign of miſcarriage, judge the ſame of the Girle by the left breaſt, when it is ſunk, or round and hard, the firſt ſignifies abortion to be near, the other health and ſafety both of the Mother and the Child.”

   “The Pow'r appeas'd, with winds ſuffic'd the ſail, / The bellying canvas ſtrutted with the gale; [...]”

   “[T]hey cut the tree where they see the bark to be fullest of liquor, and whereas they perceive it to be thinnest and strut out most. [Quoting Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny the Elder's Natural History, book XII, chapter 14.]”

5. (obsolete, transitive)Often followed by out: to cause (something) to bulge, protrude, or swell.

   “[H]e gains the glitt'ring prize, / And ſtruts the gaudy food of gazing eyes, / A thing—that oft his Footmen may deſpiſe.”

6. (also, figuratively, transitive)To brace or support (something) by a strut or struts; to hold (something) in place or strengthen by a diagonal, transverse, or upright support.

   “Masonry flying arches strutting the retaining walls in Chorley cutting, Manchester-Blackpool line, L.M.S.R.”

7. (intransitive)To be attached diagonally or at a slant; also, to be bent at a sharp angle.

noun

1. (also, figuratively)A step or walk done stiffly and with the head held high, often due to haughtiness or pride; affected dignity in walking.

   “Putting on his hat, and thrusting both hands into the pockets of his trousers, he marched with a nonchalant strut out of the room, [...]”

2. (historical)An instrument for adjusting the pleats of a ruff.
3. A beam or rod providing support.

   “Replacing and Aligining Wing-tip Float Struts. Loosen the brace wires and stagger wires on the wing-tip float. Remove the bolts or pins from the strut fittings, both on the float and on the wing surface; then lift the strut out. Carefully replace the strut in a like manner. This is a very simple operation but care must be taken to align the strut with the one in the rear and the one opposite.”

   “MacPherson struts are found attached to the front wheels of just about every front-drive car on the road and at the fronts of many rear-wheel-drive cars, as well. [...] The MacPherson strut is a single unit that contains the shock absorber and coil spring. In addition, the strut acts as the upper arm in a typical suspension.”

4. An act of strutting (“bracing or supporting (something) by a strut or struts (sense 1); attaching diagonally; bending at a sharp angle”); specifically, deviation (of the spoke of a wheel) from the normal position.

adj

1. (obsolete)Swelling out due to being full; bulging, protuberant, swollen.
2. (Scotland, obsolete)Drunk, intoxicated; fou.