The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stoic \Sto"ic\, n. [L. stoicus, Gr. ?, fr. ?, adj., literally, of or pertaining to a colonnade, from ? a roofed colonnade, a porch, especially, a porch in Athens where Zeno and his successors taught.]
A disciple of the philosopher Zeno; one of a Greek sect which held that men should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and should submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity, by which all things are governed.
-
Hence, a person not easily excited; an apathetic person; one who is apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain.
A Stoic of the woods, a man without a tear.
--Campbell.School of Stoics. See The Porch, under Porch.