robustadj.n.
/rə(ʊ)ˈbʌst/, /ˈrəʊbʌst/, U.S. /roʊˈbəst/, /ˈroʊˌbəst/ A. adj.
1.
a. Strong and hardy; strongly and solidly built, sturdy; healthy.
(a) Of a person or animal.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > [adjective] > of health: good > resistant to disease, etc.
strongeOE
stalworthc1175
starka1250
stiff1297
stalworthyc1300
vigorousc1330
stoura1350
lustyc1374
marrowya1382
sturdyc1386
crank1398
robust1490
vigorious1502
stalwart1508
hardy1548
robustious1548
of force1577
rustical1583
marrowed1612
rustic1620
robustic1652
solid1741
refractory1843
salted1864
resistant1876
saulteda1879
the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective] > robust or healthy
heart-wholea1470
robust1490
roaring1848
well-to-do1852
red-blooded1876
the world > life > the body > bodily constitution > bodily strength > [adjective] > robust
strongeOE
hardOE
stalworthc1175
starka1250
stiff1297
steel to the (very) backa1300
stalworthyc1300
wightc1300
stable13..
valiant1303
stithc1325
toughc1330
wrast1338
stoura1350
sadc1384
wighty14..
derfc1440
substantialc1460
well-jointed1483
felon1487
robust1490
stalwart1508
stoutya1529
robustous?1531
rankc1540
hardy1548
robustious1548
stout1576
rustical1583
rustic1620
iron1638
robustic1652
swankinga1704
strapping1707
rugged1731
solid1741
vaudy1793
flaithulach1829
ironbark1833
swankie1838
tough as (old) boots or leather1843
skookum1847
hard (also tough, sharp) as nails1862
hard-assed1954
nails1974
1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos xiv. sig. Diiii v The noble men wexe robuste and rude wythoute excersice of fayttes of werre.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) xvii. 115 The pepil chesit ane certan of gouuernours of the maist robust & maist prudent to be there deffendours.
1563 T. Gale Certaine Wks. Chirurg. ii. iv. f. 43v Stronge & robuste persons.
1572 tr. S. Münster Briefe Coll. & Compend. Extract Cosmogr. f. 77 He hath fyue great robust armies.
a1600 (?c1535) tr. H. Boece Hist. Scotl. (Mar Lodge) (1946) f. 34v Exhorting his men to schaw thame manly and robust for thare awne life and glore.
1660 R. Coke Justice Vindicated 9 The most furious and robust man is not the best horse-breaker and pacer.
1697 T. Brown Physick lies a Bleeding ii. ii. 28 A Patient, who accidentally had a Robust heavy Fellow tread on a Corn that grew on his left Toe.
1736 T. Carte Hist. Life Duke Ormonde I. 576 To fall in with them sword and pike in hand, which would give the victory to the robuster men.
1769 W. Buchan Domest. Med. i. 42 Though up-grown people, who are hardy and robust, may live..in such situations, yet they generally prove fatal to their offspring.
1793 T. M. Randolph Let. 19 June in T. Jefferson Papers (1995) XXVI. 325 The horse I purchased for you will be sufficiently robust.
1832 W. Macgillivray Trav. & Researches A. von Humboldt xviii. 258 On this journey she must have undergone hardships from which the most robust man would have shrunk.
1895 A. I. Shand Life E. B. Hamley I. 28 Although his constitution afterwards hardened.., at that time he was far from robust.
1951 W. Lewis Rotting Hill Envoi 307 Once so robust, she was terribly shrunken: some wasting disease, doubtless malignant.
1985 M. W. Bonanno Dwellers in Crucible xiv. 281 He couldn't help comparing the robust, vital young cadet with the pallid wraith in the diagnostic bed.
2009 S. J. Zipperstein Rosenfeld's Lives 217 Despite his ill health, he seemed so robust, so large, so healthy.
(b) Of the body or its parts, constitution, disposition, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > [adjective] > of health: good > resistant to disease, etc. > of the body or its parts
robust1490
robustious1584
vigorous1618
mettlesome1668
sturdy1861
1490 W. Caxton tr. Eneydos iv. sig. Biiij v To proue and excersice thy robuste puyssaunce ayenste a body pryued frome his lyf.
1596 tr. Deligtful Hist. Celestina xxix. 218 The Emperour and the other nobles receiued her very gratiously, but she would neuer bow before him..whereat..the people..were much astonished,..calling her a woman of a manly and robust courage.
1600 L. Lewkenor tr. A. de Torquemada Spanish Mandeuile v. f. 131 Their ayres are delicate & pure, & preserue them from diseases, making theyr complexions more robust and strong.
1625 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 327 Tender and Delicate Persons..haue so many Things to trouble them; Which more Robust Natures haue little Sense of.
1699 G. Harvey Vanities Philos. & Physick xi. 130 The Patient..was of a healthful robust Constitution, and fleshy habit of body, much on Horseback, and scarce at any time long sedentary.
1719 E. Young Paraphr. Job 260 Survey the warlike horse! didst thou invest With thunder his robust distended chest?
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 360 Thy frame, robust and hardy, feels indeed The piercing cold, but feels it unimpair'd.
1834 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last Days of Pompeii I. ii. i. 179 His form was still so robust and athletic.
1860 W. Collins Woman in White 134 How I envy you your robust nervous system.
1904 Entomologist's Rec & Jrnl. Variation 16 185 This fine species is easy to recognise by its large size and robust build.
1972 P. O'Brian Post Captain iv. 84 I have a particularly interesting subject who was in the most robust health at sea..in spite of every kind of excess.
2008 M. Dennison Last Princess ii. 11 She was an attractive baby with a healthy appetite and robust constitution.
(c) Of a tree or other plant.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by good growth > [adjective] > strong, vigorous, or plump
strongOE
thriftyc1440
well-brawneda1450
valiant1542
pubble1566
stout1573
corroborate1581
bunting1584
lusty1600
plump1600
vegetous1610
blought1611
boisterous1622
stocky1622
robust1627
steera1642
vegete1655
jollya1661
vigorous1706
well-to-do1852
1627 P. Hay Advt. Subj. Scotl. 133 The..robust Oake of the Forrest, springeth from a verie small Graine.
1657 Sir T. Browne Nature's Cabinet Unlock'd iv. 88 Masculine Plants are always strong, and robust, the feminine weak and fecundine.
a1697 A. Hornbeck Sel. Serm. (1698) II. xxxix. 539 The tender Plant must become Robust, till it can bear the Injuries of Wind and Weather.
1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful iii. §16. 101 It is not the oak..or any of the robust trees of the forest.
1769 E. Bancroft Ess. Nat. Hist. Guiana 12 Canes,..even after this precaution, are usually too robust and luxuriant to make sugar with.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 102 It grows very robust, with large leaves, flat and narrow, with thick veins.
1881 Encycl. Brit. XII. 249/2 The Brompton Stock..is a robust plant, growing 3 feet high.
1921 J. C. Cunningham Products of Empire vii. 68 The Lemon..is a smaller and less robust tree than the orange.
1961 E. Salisbury Weeds & Aliens vi. 189 The Prickly Sowthistle is usually the more robust plant.
2005 G. Nelson E. Gulf Coastal Plain Wildflowers 32/2 This robust perennial herb is predominately a coastal species.
b. Zoology and Physical Anthropology. Of a part of the body: strong, thick, or sturdy. Of an animal or (later) a fossil hominid (cf. sense B. 2): strongly built, thickset; opposed to gracile.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > [adjective] > stout or strong
tidya1325
robust1666
stout1832
massive1888
the world > life > the body > bodily shape or physique > broad shape or physique > [adjective]
stalworthc1175
thicka1250
stubblea1300
quarryc1300
stalworthyc1300
stoura1350
sturdyc1386
buirdlya1400
squarec1430
couragec1440
craskc1440
substantialc1460
ample1485
stalwart1508
puddinga1540
full-bodied1588
robust1666
two-handed1687
swankinga1704
strapping1707
broad-set1708
thick-set1724
throddy?1748
thick-bodied1752
broad-built1771
junky1825
swankie1838
stodgy1854
wide-bodied1854
beefish1882
hunky1911
buff1982
buffed1986
1666 G. Harvey Morbus Anglicus iv. 39 The heart..consisting of robust fibres variously intertext.
1685 N. Grew Musæum Regalis Societatis (new ed.) i. §ii. i. 12 Much deeper than in a Cats [Skull]; and so better fitted to receive those Muscules which are here also much more robust.
1717 Philos. Trans. 1714–16 (Royal Soc.) 29 509 His Tail consists of ten very stiff large and strong Quills, firmly set into a robust strong Uropygium or Rump.
1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. I. 281 Alectorides. Bill shorter than the head, or of the same length; strong, robust.
1841 Penny Cycl. XXI. 158/2 The zygomatic arches are more open and robust in the former.
1891 W. H. Flower & R. Lydekker Introd. Study Mammals xi. 515 The attempts to separate a larger and more robust variety, under the name of Panther, from a smaller and more graceful form, to which the name Leopard might properly be restricted, have failed.
1926 Q. Rev. Biol. 1 165/1 Another group, mostly Old World species, typified by the well known Hipparion gracile.., is comparatively large and robust.
1977 Times Educ. Suppl. 21 Oct. 11/2 More recently robust hominids have also been identified at the South African sites.
1995 J. H. Schwartz Skeleton Keys v. 140/2 The calcaneus, whose posteriormost portion constitutes the heel of the foot, is the largest and most robust tarsal bone.
2000 R. Cowen Hist. Life (ed. 3) xxii. 356 The robust australopithecines may not be an evolutionary group.
2. Coarse, rough, rude. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > [adjective] > coarse
agrest?1440
robust1511
roynish1570
sowish1570
lubberlike1572
lubberly1580
ordinarya1586
roborean1656
porcine1660
coarse1680
crude1722
low1725
piggish1742
coarse-graineda1774
crass1861
coarse-fibred1872
barnyard1895
farmyard1911
rough as guts1919
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > [adjective] > ill-mannered > unrefined
boistousc1300
untheweda1325
uplandisha1387
unaffiled1390
rudea1393
knavishc1405
peoplisha1425
clubbedc1440
blunt1477
lob?1507
robust1511
borel1513
carterly1519
clubbish1530
rough?1531
rustical?1532
incondite1539
agrestc1550
rusticc1550
brute1555
lobcocka1556
loutisha1556
carterlike1561
boorish1562
ruggedc1565
lobbish1567
loutlike1567
sowish1570
clownish1581
unrefined1582
impolished1583
homespun1590
transalpinea1592
swaddish1593
unpolished1594
untutored1595
swabberly1596
tartarous1602
porterly1603
lobcocked1606
lob-like1606
cluster-fisted1611
agrestic1617
inurbane1623
unelevated1627
incult1628
unbrushed1640
vulgar1643
unhewed1644
unsmooth1648
hirsute1658
loutardly1658
unhewn1659
roughsome?c1660
sordid1668
inhumanea1680
coarse1699
brutal1709
ramgunshoch1721
tramontane1740
uncouth1740
no-nationa1756
unurbane1760
turnipy1792
rudas1802
common1804
cubbish1819
clodhopping1828
vulgarian1833
cloddish1844
unkempt1846
bush1851
vulgarish1860
rodney1866
crude1876
ignorant1886
yobby1910
nekulturny1932
oikish1959
yobbish1966
ocker1972
down and dirty1977
1511 H. Watson tr. St. Bernardino Chirche of Euyll Men & Women sig. B.iv My robuste language deuoyde of vndepured eloquence.
1568 A. Scott Poems (1896) iv. 11 To hant that game robust, And beistly appetyte.
1610 tr. Gaultier's Rodomontados xxxvi. sig. D3v The horrible Agricano, or the robust Rodomont.
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia Pref. sig. C2v Feeling..being a sense that judges of the more gross and robust motions of the Particles of Bodies.
1667 R. Allestree Causes Decay Christian Piety Pref. sig. Av To consider our ways, to reflect not only on those robust gyant-like provocations which have thus bid defiance to Heaven.
1730 J. Thomson Autumn in Seasons 151 Romp-loving miss Is haul'd about, in gallantry robust.
1754 S. Foote Knights ii. 41 You are grown too head-strong and robust for me.
1817 C. Hutton Welsh Mountaineer I. vii. 98 Such is my abhorrence of robust manners, vulgar ideas, and hideous names.
1872 W. D. Howells Their Wedding Journey i. 9 He..presently began a robust flirtation with one of them. He possessed himself, after a brief struggle, of her parasol.
1927 C. Bayly tr. G. de Pourtalhs Polonaise xiv. 238 It must be supposed that these robust manners were not altogether displeasing.
3. Relating to, requiring, or promoting physical strength or hardiness; energetic, vigorous.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective] > of action: involving or requiring vigour
mainc1400
vigorous1524
tooth and naila1535
robust1652
robustic1652
strenuous1671
lusty1672
vigorous1697
1652 J. French York-shire Spaw iv. 45 One of those robust exercises..which makes the flesh hard, and compact, conducing to long life.
1683 T. Tryon Way to Health 271 Men ought not to put Women to such robust Imployments and hard Labours as many do, except pure Necessity compels them to it.
a1697 J. Aubrey Brief Lives (1898) I. 107 He was an early riser and studyed well, but also took his robust pleasures of fishing, fowling, &c.
1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry ii. 342 They [sc. chestnuts] afford a good robust Diet, and are very nourishing.
1759 C. Lennox tr. P. Brumoy Greek Theatre II. 461 The Lacedemonian virgins..were taught the most robust bodily excercises.
1850 D. Scrymgeour Poetry & Poets of Brit. vi. 383 His [sc. Walter Scott's] lameness did not much impede his habits of robust activity.
1871 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 35 Cowper..preferred his..garden-walk to those robuster joys.
1910 S. D. Woods Lights & Shadows of Life on Pacific Coast iii. 34 Robust outdoor sports furnished amusement for those of maturer years.
1953 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 28 June 8/2 They may golf, fish, swim or engage in other robust activity.
2003 L. Jackson Jon Bon Jovi (2005) xi. 201 Jon was midway through a robust exercise workout in his home gym.
4. † b. Linguistics. In Arabic or related languages: (of a letter) pronounced, as opposed to silent. Contrasted with weak. Obsolete.
a. Of a sound or voice: strong, powerful; loud. Also of a person: having such a voice.
ΚΠ
1656 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. II. viii. 32 The word in its robust and forcible sound agreeth to the thing which it signifieth.
1715 in T. Creech tr. Lucretius Of Nature of Things (new ed.) II. iv. 413 It will have something manly in it,..as strong Limbs, a swarthy Complexion, a robust Voice.
1796 Crit. Rev. May 28 A clear, firm, and robust voice..affects our organs of hearing with equal force and delight.
1836 J. Murray Hand-bk. for Travellers on Continent i. 22 The powerful and unisonal psalmody..filling the lofty churches with a volume of rich and robust sound.
1897 Daily News 5 Feb. 8/7 Signor Ceppi, a robust tenor.
1950 Musical Times 91 280/2 The range of Siegmund's music is not beyond a robust baritone.
1991 CD Rev. Oct. 82/1 He has a robust if throaty tenor.
2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 30 Mar. c3/2 He can wield his accordion like a traditionalist, playing robust, oom-pah-pahing chords and skittering melodic variations.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > writing > written character > [adjective] > not 'weak' letters, specifically in Arabic grammar
robust1776
1776 J. Richardson Gram. Arabick Lang. 8 The three letters ﻱ ﻭ ﺍ are called weak... All the others are stiled robust.
1843 Proc. Philol. Soc. (1844) 1 138 It [sc. Berber] has a distinction of letters..into robust and weak. The weak letters of course are W, Y, and A.
c. Of a colour: rich, deep, intense.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [adjective] > intense
strongOE
richc1330
finea1387
stark1547
deep1555
full1599
saturate1669
generous1710
lush1744
saturated1791
lushy1821
robust1826
raised1846
high-keyed1879
acid1916
1826 W. Hazlitt Notes Journey through France & Italy xxiii. 357 But for the sun-burnt, well-baked, robust tone of the flesh-colour, commend me to the leg and girded thigh of the robber.
1847 Newcastle Courant 21 May ii. 2/4 The wheat plant looks exceedingly well, being already fully a foot in height, of a robust healthy green colour, and thickly stooled.
1892 A. W. Hunt Mrs. Juliet I. x. 225 The colour is rich, sensuous, robust.
1921 N.Y. Times 13 Feb. 8/3 Edward H. Potthast's ‘A Day at the Seashore’ makes a note of robust color in the rather gray tonality of the room.
1970 N. Pevsner Cambridgeshire (Buildings of Eng.) (ed. 2) 363 All still in the pre-archaeological painterly vein, and quite robust in colour.
2002 K. Louise True Devotion ix. 103 Robust orange, crazy red, and potent purple, boldly slammed together in the print.
d. Of food or drink: having a strong taste or smell; (esp. of wine) full-bodied, rich. Also: designating such a taste or smell.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > taste and flavour > [adjective] > strong-tasting
strongeOE
stithc1000
violenta1398
tartc1405
froughc1420
high?c1430
lecherous1474
strong1588
brusque1601
valiant1607
pertish1635
haut-goût1645
full-flavoured1736
lively1770
gamey1820
ory1854
zestful?1855
robust1873
tangy1875
stewy1895
1873 Times 17 Apr. 3/6 The Tintara is a robust, sustaining wine.
1904 F. Dodsworth Bk. W. Indies 11 The crisp bleakness of our English climate imparts a robust flavour to its slowly-ripening fruit.
1924 P. G. Wodehouse Bill the Conqueror 213 A gentle breeze..brought pleasant Spring scents from the park across the road to blend with the robuster aroma of coffee and fried bacon.
1945 Los Angeles Times 28 Oct. (This Week Mag.) 7/2 (advt.) It's a grand, robust cheese treat.
1986 A. Taylor Old School Tie vi. 59 Calèche... Elizabeth Taylor's favourite perfume... I prefer it to the more robust Je Reviens.
2004 H. Fearnley-Whittingstall River Cottage Meat Bk. xi. 304 A cassoulet needs no accompaniment, save a robust and artisanal red wine.
5.
a. Of a material object: sturdily constructed, solid; not easily damaged or broken, resilient.
ΚΠ
1670 S. Gott Divine Hist. Genesis World vii. 164 Iron is so Robust Contumacious and Consistent in itself, that it doth not yield much to Flame.
1714 J. Macky Journey through Eng. I. xiii. 201 I must..find Fault with one Part of his Architecture, which is, the Adorning this Robust Building with the Corinthian and Composite Orders.
1827 J. Elmes Metrop. Improvem. 157 The robust columns beneath them seem built exactly for pedestals to the sturdy Ethiopians above them.
1882 Macmillan's Mag. Apr. 430/2 The room in which they found themselves, though clean, and neatly furnished with robust oaken furniture, bore symptoms of unwonted disorder.
1946 V. N. Wood Metall. Materials i. 36 (heading) The whole is encased in a robust steel shell.
1961 P. J. Bhatt Fund. Servo Control Engin. 58 Magnetic amplifiers and transducers are static robust units which can be conveniently mounted (e.g., astride the driving motor).
1988 Jrnl. Navigation 41 330 The compass..was a simple, robust instrument with a large steering prism.
2007 Trail Feb. 76/3 This robust accessory keeps my four mugs-worth of water piping for nine hours.
b. Of an immaterial thing, esp. a thought or emotion: powerful; not showing undue sensitivity, firm, unyielding; resilient. Also occasionally of a person.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective] > of mind or temperament
heartlyc1425
vigorous1640
robust1766
1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. i. 11 To prevent the robust title of occupancy from again taking place, the doctrine of escheats is adopted.
1807 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 13 June 1069 Such words as..were best calculated to impress his robust thoughts.
1852 Edinb. Rev. Jan. 2 The beneficial influence he has exerted as a most robust thinker and a most admirable writer.
1888 Glasgow Evening Times 24 Aug. 2/5 English is a robust language.
1905 D. Blackburn Richard Hartley, Prospector iii. 39 Spurning the idea of work with the robust contempt of the hardened tramp.
1961 Times 13 Sept. 10/2 His robust defence on theological grounds of the nuclear deterrent.
2003 R. Dawkins Devil's Chaplain 5 Scientists tend to take a robust view of truth and are impatient of philosophical equivocation.
c. Economics. Of a market, economy, etc.: strong, thriving; resilient.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > management of national resources > [adjective] > relating to states or trends of the economy
anti-inflation1870
anti-inflationist1874
robust1886
static1890
recessionary1897
deflationary1920
inflationary1920
maximized1920
mature1928
recessional1929
anti-inflationary1932
reflationary1932
reflationist1932
Kondratieff1935
anti-cyclical1938
flatline1946
maximizing1949
stagnationist1951
countercyclical1952
recessed1956
recessive1971
stagflationary1971
flatlined1986
1886 Liverpool Mercury 6 Sept. 8/5 Rice.—A robust market, notwithstanding heavy arrivals off coast.
1907 Times 15 May 13/2 Unrest in India, labour agitation at home,..these and other minor considerations would have been enough to sap the strength of the most robust markets.
1966 Changing Times Jan. 4/1 The residue of unemployment is still a blemish on an otherwise robust economy.
1991 Economist 24 Aug. 62/1 Property prices are just beginning to harden again and consumer spending is still remarkably robust.
2007 A. Greenspan Age of Turbulence 178 Apart from the run-up in the stock market, the economy was as robust as it had been six months before.
6.
a. Statistics. Of a test: yielding approximately correct results despite the falsity of certain of the assumptions underlying it; (of a calculation, process, or result) largely independent of certain aspects of the input.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > probability or statistics > [adjective] > yielding correct or concordant results
reliable1875
robust1955
1955 G. E. P. Box & S. L. Andersen in Jrnl. Royal Statist. Soc. B. 17 1 To fulfil the needs of the experimenter, statistical criteria should (1) be sensitive to change in the specific factors tested, (2) be insensitive to changes, of a magnitude likely to occur in practice, in extraneous factors. A test which satisfies the first requirement is said to be powerful and we shall typify a test which satisfies the second by calling it ‘robust’.
1979 Sci. Amer. Apr. 69/2 This conclusion, they point out, ‘is robust, in that we have derived it from the global geochemical distribution of uranium, and we have also derived it from the U.S. uranium-mining history and from a wide variety of subsets of the U.S. uranium-mining history’.
1996 Fibromyalgia Times Fall 5/1 A number of statistically robust and sophisticated sib pair analyses are available for researchers to utilize.
2004 T. W. O'Gorman Appl. Adaptive Statist. Methods vii. 109 Robust estimators are usually designed to reduce the influence of observations that are judged to be extreme.
b. Computing. Of a program: able to recover from errors; unlikely to fail, reliable. Also: (of a program's feature set) powerful, full.
ΚΠ
1979 J. J. Horning in B. Randell Computing Syst. Reliability iv. 124 Why worry about exception processing? Anyone who has ever built a large software system or tried to write a ‘robust’ program can appreciate the problem.
1992 Dr. Dobb's Jrnl. Sept. 1/1 (advt.) With all these tools, you'll write the most powerful, robust apps imaginable.
2001 W. J. Chun Core Python Programming iii. 71 One of Python's strengths is its ability to let the programmer handle errors..rather than simply exiting the program. This results in a more robust application.
2008 Lifehacker (Nexis) 21 Sept. A free, open-source password manager with a robust and easy-to-use feature set.
2009 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 15 Feb. (Business section) 4/4 Google learned that the early version of its calendar program was..not robust enough to meet a corporate user's need.
B. n.
1. With the and plural agreement: robust people collectively.
ΚΠ
1692 J. Pechey Coll. Chronical Dis. iii. 48 That firmness of Spirits..which is always found in the robust.
1700 J. Jones Myst. Opium Reveal'd xv. 202 It causes ill Symptoms oftner..in fine textur'd Men, than the robust.
1762 J. Fothergill Rules for Preserv. of Health ii. 41 Pork is only proper for the robust and strong.
1800 W. Wordsworth in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads II. 157 The robust and young, The prosperous and unthinking,..all behold in him A silent monitor.
1836 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece III. xx. 137 All other maladies terminated in this, which appeared to prey equally upon the robust and the infirm.
1917 J. R. Nickum Get Well, stop Doddering 15 The robust are interested in the activities of the robust, not in the feebleness of the feeble.
1947 Times 14 May 7/1 (advt.) A novel in which the robust will delight.
2003 A. L. Fairchild Silence at Borders iii. 94 The young..the muscular, the robust were not turned aside.
2. Physical Anthropology. A robust fossil hominid; spec. any of three australopithecines ( Australopithecus robustus, A. aethiopicus, and A. boisei) characterized by heavily built jaws, teeth, and associated musculature, and now often placed together in the genus Paranthropus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > protohuman > [adjective]
Cro-Magnon1869
palaeanthropic1890
pithecanthropoid1890
pithecanthropic1897
theriozoic1898
Combe-Capelle1911
Piltdown1912
Predmost1912
Boskop1915
hominid1915
Neanderthalian1920
Tardenoisian1921
pithecanthropine1925
Sinanthropic1931
Solo1932
Florisbad1935
Steinheim1935
Sinanthropoid1937
Swanscombe1937
robust1971
1971 Man 6 604 Graciles and robusts overlapped considerably... Male gracile and female robust australopithecines were approximately equal in robustness and stature.
1987 Nature 25 June 654/3 There was little acceptance of Clarke's claim that his Stw 252..represents a new species tending towards the robusts.
2005 S. Johansson Origins Lang. iv. 59 There is..some recent support for associating some or all of the robusts with the main human lineage.
Compounds
Complementary and parasynthetic.
robust-looking adj.
ΚΠ
1769 R. Griffith Gordian Knot lxii, in R. Griffith & E. Griffith Two Novels IV. 21 I perceived an old robust looking man, stretched upon the ground.
1824 S. E. Ferrier Inheritance I. ix. 90 The portrait represents a considerably larger and more robust-looking person than Miss St. Clair.
1947 N. Collins Dulcimer Street i. 14 They were good robust-looking cigars with scarlet-and-gilt bands round them.
2005 W. S. Merwin Summer Doorways vii. 37 I stood waiting in a movie in town, with a tall, robust-looking friend.
robust-lunged adj. and n.
ΚΠ
1872 Labourer's Friend Apr. 37 Divers robust-lunged men..howled out vociferously an invitation to all and sundry.
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 7 Apr. 3/1 The most robust-lunged must find the stifling atmosphere a severe drain on their vital force.
1899 L. O. Chant Sellcuts' Manager viii. 107 The vociferous screaming of her robust-lunged baby was..a sound of heavenly sweetness in her ear.
2008 Pittsburgh (Pa.) Tribune Rev. (Nexis) 21 Dec. Their own robust-lunged offspring.
robust-minded adj. and n.
ΚΠ
1844 R. Cattermole Lit. Church of Eng. I. 344 The patron of those robust-minded scholars was Laud, the most rigid of high churchmen.
1948 S. Sassoon Meredith iii. 40 He was essentially robust-minded and humorous, and..he had been toughened by experience.
1995 Straits Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 12 Feb. The robust-minded would want to gag at all this.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1490