stalwart

adj

1. Firmly or solidly built.

   “This true Man ſoon aſſembled him beforn: / Three Sons he had that ſtalwart were and bold, / And twenty Men of Kin in his Houſhold.”

   “[A] stalwart leather-clad "boy," just returned from trapping on the waters of Grand River, on the western side the mountains, who interlards his mountain jargon with Spanish words picked up in Taos and California.”

   “For, observe, it was an assemblage of two hundred thousand young men—not simpering, dainty, kid-gloved weaklings, but stalwart, muscular, dauntless young braves, brimful of push and energy, and royally endowed with every attribute that goes to make up a peerless and magnificent manhood—the very pick and choice of the world's glorious ones.”

   “The driver was a stalwart woman who sat at ease in the front seat and drove her car bare-headed. She left a cloud of dust and a trail of gasoline behind her.”

   “Direct your attention now to the African turtles seen here migrating … Morbo wishes these stalwart nomads peace.”

2. Courageous.

   “Many other learned men of the age followed him [Romolo Amaseo] to the field, and contended with much zeal for the cause of the Latin; some even went so far as to wish the Italian completely banished entirely from the world. But stalwart champions were not wanting on the other side; and, to be brief, the impulse of public opinion soon swept away all opposition, and the popular cause was triumphant.”

   “Now Tomlins always acted as Morgan's major domo in tent or quarters, and was also a stalwart hand either against ox, sheep, or enemy.”

3. Determined; staunch.

noun

1. One who has a strong build.
2. One who firmly supports a cause.

   “Too much authority, blind authority, mere authority, whether that of the Prince or the priest, of the Raja or the Nabob, of the oligarch or the official, of the wealty and the prosperous is the bane of Indian life, yet these stalwarts of reform always take shelter behind big names.”

   “But I am sure there must be a great many Socialists who would fairly turn in their graves if they knew how their successors in the Labour Party were "ratting" on the policy laid down by the old stalwarts.”

3. One who is dependable.

   “The party's staunchest stalwarts constitute the President's redoubtable bulwark against the latter bribery accusations.”

   “Other erstwhile stalwarts are also wavering. Southampton had two of the best full-backs in the league last season but Ryan Bertrand has been below par this season and Cédric Soares made an uncharacteristic lapse that led to Stoke's winning goal in Southampton's last outing.”

   “In August, the Los Angeles-area stalwart the Lab also closed its dance space, a 12,000-square-foot location in West Covina.”

4. (historical)A member of the former Stalwarts Republican party of the United States during the Gilded Age.