From Middle English outre, outer, outter, uttre, from Old English ūtre, ūtera, ūterra (“outer”), equivalent to out + -er. Compare German äußere (“outer”), Danish ydre (“outer”), Swedish yttre (“outer”), Icelandic ytri (“outer”). Piecewise doublet of utter.
Meanings
Outside; external.
Farther from the centre of the inside.
Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
tl panlabas (farther from the center) · fr externe (outside) · ru вне́шний (outside) · bg външен (outside) · ka გარე (outside) · evn тулигу (outside) · it esterno (outside) · la exter (outside) · da ydre (outside) · id luar (outside) · nrn øterli (outside) · cs vnější (outside) · jv njaba (outside) · ota ظاهر (outside) · mnc ᡨᡠᠯᡝᡵᡤᡳ (outside) · be во́нкавы (outside) · uk надві́рний (outside) · hy արտաքին (farther from the center) · fi ulko- (outside) · gl exterior (outside) · mn гадаад (outside) · ru нару́жный (outside) · uk зо́внішній (outside) · sv yttre (farther from the center) · fi ulko- (farther from the center) · fr extérieur (outside) · ga imeachtrach (outside) · es exterior (outside) · te బయటి (outside) · kk сыртқы (outside) · kk тысқы (outside) · la exterus (outside) · pl zewnętrzny (outside) · tl panlabas (outside) · fi reuna- (farther from the center) · grc ἐξώτερος (outside) · cy allanol (outside) · hu külső (outside) · be знадво́рны (outside) · be надво́рны (outside) · sv yttre (outside) · de äußer- (outside) · ast esterior (outside) · es externo (outside) · eo ekstera (outside) · pt externo (outside) · de außen (outside) · nrn øter (outside) · fi ulommainen (farther from the center) · hy արտաքին (outside)
From Middle English outre, outer, outter, uttre, from Old English ūtre, ūtera, ūterra (“outer”), equivalent to out + -er. Compare German äußere (“outer”), Danish ydre (“outer”), Swedish yttre (“outer”), Icelandic ytri (“outer”). Piecewise doublet of utter.
Meanings
An outer part.
'Phil Cornish' [a snowdrop variety] is like a cross between a pixie hat and a pagoda, with elegant upswept outers [outer petals] marked in a green colour-wash at the top and warpaint slashes at the lower end. 2015 February 7, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8:
An uncovered section of the seating at a stadium or sportsground.
The fourth circle on a target, outside the inner and magpie.
A shot which strikes the outer of a target.
The smallest single unit sold by wholesalers to retailers, usually one retail display box.
We ordered two cartons with twelve outers in each.
From the early 90s, these were some of the fiercest debates raging in the gay press and in gay and straight bars worldwide as blabbermouths blabbed, sometimes just for the sheer hell of it, and gay celebrities ran for cover or bit the bullet and pipped the outers to the post. 2002, Simon Gage, Lisa Richards, Howard Wilmot, Queer: The Ultimate User's Guide, page 88:
One who puts out, ousts, or expels.
An ouster; dispossession.
(UK) One who supports leaving the European Union.
The 51.4 per cent to 48.6 per cent victory of the "outers" broke the back of the Labour government. 2013 January 25, Jon Cruddas, “Au Revoir, Europe: What If Britain Left the EU? by David Charter”, in The Independent:
Meanwhile, outers are disporting themselves on TV in luminous green ties, hand-woven by first years at the Dronefield Academy for the Sartorially Challenged. 2016 February 16, Robert Shrimsley, “Gimme a Brexit break”, in Financial Times:
Forms
Spelling
Features
Labels
Source
outers
Number=Plur
lexicographic
Antonyms
inner (antonym(s) of “one who supports leaving the EU”)
Deriveds
outer ear (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer join (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer automorphism (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer-spacey (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer bar (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer class (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · full outer join (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer marker (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · out-and-outer (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer borough (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer arm (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · right outer join (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · all-outer (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · down-and-outer (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · come-outer (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer Solar System (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · left outer join (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer garment (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer lips (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · locator outer marker (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer trigram (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer measure (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer regular (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · puller-outer (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer planet (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · maker-outer (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer product (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology) · outer core (all terms containing "outer", regardless of meaning and etymology)
Synonyms
informant (one who outs others) · Brexiter (one who supports leaving the EU)
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *úd
Proto-Germanic *ūt
Proto-West Germanic *ūt
Old English ūt
▲
Proto-Germanic *ūt
Proto-Germanic *-ai
Proto-Germanic *ūtai
Proto-West Germanic *ūtē
Old English ūte
Middle English oute
English out (adjective)
English -er
English outer
From out (adjective) + -er (“comparative suffix”).
Meanings
(comparative, form-of) comparative form of out (“(more) open about one's sexuality, etc”): more out
And 'I like to wear a silly hat; I get camper by the hour. I'm Will Young and I'm gay. Did you know I was gay? I hid it for a while. But now I'm out, I'm outer than you would believe'.[…] 2020 September 3, Will Young, To be a Gay Man, Random House, →ISBN:
John rightly deplores any sign of an "outer-than-thou❞ smugness in my occasionally critical attitude to his decision not to disclose his sexual identity to his parents. […] Outness, I've come to realize, is not an absolute state of public exposure or an immutable[…] 1996, Marion Lynn, Voices: Essays on Canadian Families, →ISBN, page 149:
[…] outer-than-out literary lions like Edmund White and David Ehrenstein would later note, this final proof that the[…] 2016 July 14, Telly Davidson, Culture War: How the '90s Made Us Who We Are Today (Whether We Like It or Not), McFarland, →ISBN, page 90: