stamina

Etymology

From Latin stāmina, plural of stāmen.

noun

  1. The energy and strength for continuing to do something over a long period of time; power of sustained exertion, or resistance to hardship, illness etc.
    He has a lot of stamina. I suppose that's why he can run for a long time.
    In the first five minutes muscles which he had not been aware that he possessed had started to ache like neglected teeth. His respect for the toughness and durability of artists' models was now solid. How they acquired the stamina to go through this sort of thing all day and then bound off to Bohemian revels at night was more than he could understand. 1921, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter V, in Indiscretions of Archie
    Yes, gas, price of energy, food, even interest rates are rising, so that means tough times for households. It's often thought that Europeans or we Western people are used to, let's say, to a life which goes always to better and better and thus that we are very weak to face difficulties. But I would say that Ukrainians gave an excellent example that there is stamina amongst people when difficulties come. And difficulties which we are facing are minor if compared to those Ukrainians are meeting. So, I believe that we European people can take it and have resilience. September 25, 2022, 4:49 from the start, in 'He's all in': Finland's president predicts Putin's next move, spoken by Sauli Niinistö, CNN, archived from the original on 2022-09-25
  2. (obsolete, uncountable, plural only) The basic elements of a thing; rudimentary structures or qualities.

noun

  1. (rare) plural of stamen
    1790, William Curtis, The Botanical Magazine, Or, Flower-Garden Displayed, Volume 3, 2006 Gutenberg eBook edition, In the specimens we have examined, and which perhaps have been rendered luxuriant by culture, the number of stamina has been from twelve to sixteen; of styles, from six to eight; of flowers on the same stalk, from one to eight.
    1832 December 8, Spirit of Discovery, in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Number 579, 2005 Gutenberg eBook edition, The gay flowers of the hibiscus tiliaceus, as well as the splendid huth or Barringtonia speciosa, covered with its beautiful flowers, the petals of which are white, and the edges of the stamina delicately tinged with pink, give to the trees when in full bloom a magnificent appearance; the hibiscus rosa-chinensis, or kowa of the natives also grows in luxuriance and beauty.

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