Doughty means brave and persistent, in old use. A doughty fighter, doughty campaigner, doughty defence.
It survives mainly in journalism about long-serving campaigners, where doughty is nearly a fixed epithet. It is pronounced DOW-ty, rhyming with gouty, and has nothing to do with dough. Note that the Old English word meant competent or strong, which is a plainer idea than brave.
1adjectivedoughtyBrave and persistent.
“The doughty old campaigner fought for thirty years to save the local hospital.”
doughty is a quality of courage.
Old English dohtig means competent or strong. It is related to the root behind German taugen, to be of use.
Proto-Indo-European
*dʰewgʰ-
Proto-West Germanic
*duhtīg
Old English
dohtiġ
Middle English
doughty — brave, bold, valiant
English, today
doughty
Built from
The adjective is derived from Middle English doughty (“brave, bold, valiant”), from Old English dohtiġ, dyhtiġ (“competent, good, strong, valiant”), from Proto-West Germanic duhtīg. The English word may be analysed as dought + y, and is cognate with Scots douchty, douchtie (“bold, valiant”), Dutch duchtig (“severe, strict”), German tüchtig (“capable, competent, efficient; big; hard”), Danish dygtig (“virtuous, proficient”), Swedish duktig (“efficient; good; capable, clever, smart”), Icelandic dygðugur (“virtuous, stable”). The noun is derived from the adjective.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire