the.com/dour
the face that makes a funeral feel like a party
means Stern, gloomy, and forbidding — humorless to the point of seeming carved from stone.
from From the Latin 'durus,' meaning hard, by way of Scots, where 'dour' came to describe a hardness of temperament rather than of substance. The same 'durus' root gives us 'durable,' 'endure,' and 'duress' — so a dour person is, quite literally, hard to be around. The traditional Scottish pronunciation rhymes with 'tour,' fittingly grim.
- origin
- From Latin durus, meaning hard or harsh
- pronunciation
- Rhymes with tour, though many insist on power
- old meaning
- Once described stubborn, obstinate people, not just gloomy ones
- scottish trait
- Long stereotyped as the dour national temperament
for instance
scotland — characterized by persistently gloomy weather and reserved temperament; northern european country
eeyore — the donkey in winnie the pooh, defined by constant melancholy and pessimism