Etymology
1. "walk in a vain, important manner," O.E.
strutian "to stand out stiffly," from P.Gmc.
*strut- (cf. Dan.
strutte, Ger.
strotzen "to be puffed up, be swelled," Ger.
Strauß "fight"), from PIE base
*ster- "strong, firm, stiff, rigid" (see sterile). Originally of the air or the attitude; modern sense, focused on the walk, first recorded 1518. Cognate with O.E.
ðrutung "anger, arrogance" (see throat). To
strut (one's) stuff is black slang, first recorded 1926, from
strut as the name of a dance popular from c.1900.
2. The verb is derived from Middle English strouten, struten (“to bulge, swell; to protrude, stick out; to bluster, threaten; to object forcefully; to create a disturbance; to fight; to display one's clothes in a proud or vain manner”) [and other forms], from Old English strūtian (“to project out; stand out stiffly; to exert oneself, struggle”), from Proto-Germanic *strūtōną, *strūtijaną (“to be puffed up, swell”), from Proto-Indo-European *streudʰ- (“rigid, stiff”), from *(s)ter- (“firm; strong; rigid, stiff”).
3. The English word is cognate with Danish strutte (“to bulge, bristle”), Low German strutt (“stiff”), Middle High German striuzen (“to bristle; to ruffle”) (modern German strotzen (“to bristle up”), sträußen (obsolete, except in Alemannic)); and compare Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌿𐍄𐍃𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌻 (þrutsfill, “leprosy”), Old Norse þrútinn (“swollen”).
4. The noun is derived from the verb. Noun sense 2 (“instrument for adjusting the pleats of a ruff”) appears to be due to a misreading of a 16th-century work which used the word stroout (strouted (“caused (something) to bulge, protrude, or swell; strutted”)). See: Middle English '
strouten', Danish '
strutte', Middle High German '
striuzen', German, old spelling '
strotzen'.
Verbs referencing "strut"
Icelandic
þrútna, Old English
stregdan, German, old spelling
strotzen.