stout n Cp EDD ~ sb s w cties; OED sb1 b Nfld (1903, 1905) for sense 1.
1 Gad-fly; deer fly (Chrysops excitans).
1884 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 16 Flies as usual very bad all day and the big ferocious stouts or deer flies are now putting in an appearance. Those brutes are nearly as large as a bee and give such a savage bite as to cause one to jump with pain. 1895 J A Folklore viii, 33 A large vicious fly is called stout. 1907 WALLACE 74-5 The 'bulldogs' or 'stouts,' as they are sometimes called, which are as big as bumblebees, are very vicious, and follow the poor caribou in swarms. [1924] 1933 GREENLEAF (ed) 251 "Change Islands Song": The weather still got hotter, plenty nippers, flies and stout; / A decision they arrived at and a codtrap was put out. P 245-64 When the stouts arrive, good salmon fishing.
2 Rove beetle (Staphylinus Villosus); FISH-FLY.
1937 DEVINE 49 ~ A large black fly that gives trouble to the fish curers in summer by depositing its eggs on the fish.
