bout

Etymology 1

From Middle English bught, probably from Old English *buht (“bend, turn”), an unrecorded variant of Old English byht (“a bend, curve”), from Proto-West Germanic *buhti, from Proto-Germanic *buhtiz (“a bend”). Doublet of bight and bought.

noun

1. A period of something, especially one painful or unpleasant.
   a bout of drought.
   The "King" responded well to this treatment and would have maintained 60 m.p.h. up the steepest part had it not been for a brief bout of slipping, which was quickly corrected by Driver Bailes ("Autumn leaves", he remarked laconically). 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Part, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 105
2. (boxing) A boxing match.
3. (fencing) An assault (a fencing encounter) at which the score is kept.
4. (roller derby) A roller derby match.
5. A fighting competition.
6. (music) A bulge or widening in a musical instrument, such as either of the two characteristic bulges of a guitar.
7. (dated) The going and returning of a plough, or other implement used to mark the ground and create a headland, across a field.
   The outside bout of each land is ploughed two inches deeper, and from thence the water runs into cross furrows, which are dug with a spade […] I have an instrument of great power, called a scarifier, for this purpose. It is drawn by four horses, and completely prepares the land for the seed at each bout. 1809, “A Letter to Sir John Sinclair […] containing a Statement of the System under which a considerable Farm is profitably managed in Hertfordshire. Given at the request of the Board. By Thomas Greg, Esq.”, in The Farmer's Magazine, page 395
   It is in this manner that the ploughs are reversed at the termination of each bout of the field. 1922, “An Ingenious One-Way Agrimotor”, in The Commercial Motor, volume 34, Temple Press, page 32
   The last two rounds must be ploughed shallower, and on the last bout the strip left should be one furrow width for a two-furrow plough, two for a three-furrow, and so on. […] 1976, Claude Culpin, Farm Machinery, page 60

verb

1. To contest a bout.

Etymology 2

Written form of a reduction of about.

prep

1. (colloquial) Aphetic form of about
   They're talking bout you!
   Maddy is bout to get beat up!