Fromout-(prefix formingverbs with the sense of exceeding or surpassing) +strip(“(obsolete) to move or pass by quickly”).[1]
outstrip (third-person singular simple presentoutstrips,present participleoutstripping,simple past and past participleoutstrippedoroutstript)(transitive)
- Tomove morequickly than (someone or something) so as tooutrun orleave itbehind.
- Synonyms:overgo,overhaul,overtake
We quicklyoutstripped the amateur runners.
1567,Ovid, “The Tenth Booke”, inArthur Golding, transl.,The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […],→OCLC,folio 134, recto:And leaſt that I in telling of my tale may longer bee, / Than they in ronning of their race,outſtripped quight was shée. / And he thatwan her, marying her enioyd her for his fée.
1810,Robert Southey, chapter VII, inHistory of Brazil, 1st part, London: […] [William Pople] forLongman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […],→OCLC,page201:The Savages pursued, some of them came up to him, he beat them off,outstript the rest, ran into the sea, and swam off to the boat.
1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, inPride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] forT[homas] Egerton, […],→OCLC,page270:[…] Bingley, who wanted to be alone with Jane, proposed their all walking out.[…] Bingley and Jane, however, soon allowed the others tooutstrip them. They lagged behind, while Elizabeth, Kitty, and Darcy, were to entertain each other.
1832,Thomas Hood, “A Horse-dealer”, inThe Comic Annual, 2nd edition, London: Charles Tilt, […],→OCLC,page133:Roaring he calleth "sound," and a steed that high bloweth in running, he compareth toEclipse, for heoutstrippeth the wind.
1911 October 26,Max Beerbohm, chapter VIII, inZuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.:John Lane Company, published1912,→OCLC,page146:There was a violent jostle between the remaining men.[…] The MacQuern overtook Mr. Oover at St. Mary's andoutstripped him in Radcliffe Square.
- (figuratively) Toexceed orsurpass (someone or something).
- Synonyms:outdo,transcend;see alsoThesaurus:transcend
This year’s production has alreadyoutstripped last year’s.
c.1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare],The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [andPeter Short] forAndrew Wise, […], published1597,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene i]:Death and deſtruction dogge thee at the heeles, / Thy Mothers name is ominous to children, / If thou wiltoutſtrip death, go croſſe the ſeas, / And liue with Richmond, from the reach of hell,[…]
1594,Tho[mas] Nashe, “The Vnfortunate Traueller”, inThe Vnfortunate Traueller. Or, The Life of Iacke Wilton, London: […] T. Scarlet forC[uthbert] Burby, […],→OCLC:[A]s the eſtrich, the moſt burning ſighted bird of all others, inſomuch as the female of them hatcheth not her egs by couering them, but by the effectual rayes of her eyes, as he, I ſay,outſtrippeth the nimbleſt trippers of his feathered condition and[sic – meaningin?] footmanſhip, onely ſpurd on with the needle quickning goade vnder his ſide: ſo hee no leſſe burning ſighted than the eſtrich, ſpurde on to the race of honor by the ſweet rayes of his miſtres eyes, perſwaded himſelfe he ſhouldoutſtrip all other in running to the goale of glorie, only animated and incited by hir excellence.
1610–1611 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene i],page14, column 1:[…] OFerdinand, / Doe not ſmile at me, that I boaſt her of, / For thou ſhalt finde ſhe willout-ſtrip all praiſe / And make it halt, behinde her.
a.1634 (date written),George Herbert, “Lilies of the Temple”, inAlexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor,The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of George Herbert. […] (The Fuller Worthies’ Library), volume II (Verse), London: […] [Robson and Sons] for private circulation, published1874,→OCLC, section II (Love), stanza 1,page23, lines1–6:Thou art too hard for me in Love; / There is no dealing wth Thee in that Art, / That is Thy Masterpeece, I see. / When I contrive and plott to prove / Something that may be conquest on my part, / Thou still, O Lord,outstrippest mee.
1832, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter XII, inThe Heidenmauer; or, The Benedictines. A Legend of the Rhine. […], volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.:[Henry Charles] Carey &[Isaac] Lea […],→OCLC,page163:Thy zealoutstrippeth the limbs of a weary man, brother.
1842,Martin Farquhar Tupper, “Of Immortality”, inProverbial Philosophy: A Book of Thoughts and Arguments, Originally Treated (Second Series), London:J[ohn] Hatchard and Son, […],→OCLC,page185:We shall not die, but live,—and, of his grace, we love! / For, in the mysteries of Mercy, the One fore-knowing Spirit /Outstrippeth reason's halting choice, and winneth men to Him:[…]
1858, Saxe Bannister,William Paterson, the Merchant Statesman, and Founder of the Bank of England: His Life and Trials, page337:[B]ut it is plain that this potent nation, which now for more than half an age has not only come up with, butoutstript others in several things—but especially in the arts of war, intriguing, and taxing—has been far enough from having the same success in matters trade, and in designs to those more remote places of the world.
1858, S[amuel] F[ales] Dunlap, “Sun-worship”, inVestiges of the Spirit-history of Man, New York, N.Y.:D[aniel] Appleton and Company, […],→OCLC,page60:Thou,Surya,outstrippest all in speed; thou art visible to all; thou art the source of light; thou shinest throughout the entire firmament.
1963 October,G[eoffrey] Freeman Allen, R. K. Evans, “The Japanese National Railways and the New Tokaido Line”, inModern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allen Publishing,→ISSN,→OCLC, page239:With a population that has risen by over 25 per cent since 1940 to over 10m, Tokyo has nowoutstripped London as the world's largest city.
1998, Eric Murphy Selinger,What is it Then Between Us?: Traditions of Love in American Poetry,→ISBN:Like Christ, he comes as a physician ("I am he bringing help fo the sick as they pant on their backs"); and though he insists on visiting "strong upright men" as well, I find those visits as purely rhetorical as his questions to a too-self-satisfied reader: "Have yououtstript the rest? Are you the President? / It is a trifle."
2009, Linda Acredolo, Susan Goodwyn, “Introducing the Baby Signs Program”, inBaby Signs: How to Talk to Your Baby before Your Baby Can Talk, 3rd edition, New York, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.:McGraw Hill,→ISBN,pages13–14:[Y]our baby can easily learn simple signs for objects, events, feelings, and needs. With these signs literally at your baby's fingertips, communication between you can flourish during that difficult time from about six to thirty months, when your baby's desire to communicateoutstrips his capacity to say words.
2009 September 22,Gerry Connolly (Virginia), “Democratic Freshman Class Hour on Health Care”, inCongressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 111th Congress, First Session (United States House of Representatives), volume155, part 16, Washington, D.C.:United States Government Printing Office,→ISSN,→OCLC,page22291, column 1:[T]he average increase in insurance premiums over the last decade was 138 percent, faroutstripping the rate of inflation and faroutstripping, as you point out, the growth in wages and income.
2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, inAlan Rusbridger, editor,The Guardian[2], London:Guardian News & Media,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on6 May 2021:Kim[Jong Il] was educated at the newly founded university in Pyongyang, named after his father[Kim Il Sung], graduating in 1964. The 1960s and early 1970s were the golden years for the DPRK. It undertook rapid industrialisation, economicallyoutstripped its southern competitor, and enjoyed the support of both the People's Republic of China, and the Soviet Union.
2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real rail wrecker?”, inRAIL, number978, page53:It also singled out ten routes (all closed except Leeds-Bradford/Ilkley) to show how costsoutstripped earnings, without mention of what through-journey revenue they generated for the main lines to which they were connected.
- (archaic, rare) To exceed oroverstep (aboundary orlimit); totransgress.
1610 (first performance),Ben[jamin] Jonson,The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, forWalter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published1612,→OCLC,Act V, scene v:Therefore Gentlemen, / And kinde Spectators, if I haueout-ſtript / An old mans gratuitie, or ſtrict canon, thinke / What a yong Wife, and a good Brayne may doe: / Stretch Ages truth ſometimes, and crack it too.
2005 July, Will Staeger,Painkiller, New York, N.Y.: HarperTorch,HarperCollinsPublishers, publishedMay 2006,→ISBN,page13:Still, he thought that if Roy happened to expand his kingdom,outstripping that self-imposed nickname of his, it'd be nice to have the man on his list.
to outrun or leave behind
to exceed, excel or surpass
to exceed or overstep (a boundary or limit)
—seetransgress
, Oxford:Oxford University Press,June 2020;“outstrip,v.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.