The quality or state of being dour; gloominess, sternness, or unfriendliness of manner or appearance.
Formed by adding the abstract noun suffix -ness to dour, creating a noun that represents the quality itself. This pattern was productive in Middle English.
Scottish literature is full of descriptions of 'dourness'—the word became almost poetic shorthand for that uniquely Northern atmosphere of rugged, unsmiling landscape and people.
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