Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A portion of bedrock or other stratum protruding through the soil level.
  • intransitive verb To protrude above the soil, as rock formations.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To crop out or up; specifically, in geology, to come out to the surface of the ground: said of strata.
  • noun The appearing at the surface of a stratum or series of strata, or of a vein or ore-deposit of any kind.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The coming out of a stratum to the surface of the ground.
  • noun That part of inclined strata which appears at the surface; basset.
  • intransitive verb (Geol.) To come out to the surface of the ground; -- said of strata.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A piece of land that stands out (usually into water) from the land surrounding.
  • noun A coming out of bedrock or of an unconsolidated deposit to the surface of the ground.
  • noun The part of a rock formation that appears at the surface of the ground.
  • verb geology To come out to the surface of the ground.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb appear on the surface, come to the surface on the ground
  • noun the part of a rock formation that appears above the surface of the surrounding land

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[out + crop, to appear on the surface.]

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Examples

  • In any event, the outcrop is hidden, and it seems remarkable how much it is hidden.

    Cobalt Mineral Conditions 1906

  • Right under the outcrop was a fl at, sheltered bit where someone could have stood.

    Death of a Scriptwriter Beaton, M. C. 1998

  • When the outcrop is the pure red sandstone, we can hope for little else but the desert spinifex.

    The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 Ernest Favenc 1876

  • Residents of the tiny volcanic outcrop, which is inhabited by descendants of the HMS Bounty mutineers, have signed up to a three-year voluntary scheme which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and obesity.

    Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph 2010

  • The part of a reef showing above the surface is the "outcrop," which may appear either as a mass or "blow" of quartz, sometimes sixty feet in height, or as a solid wall or dyke which can be followed for perhaps five miles without a break; the direction in which it runs is known as its "strike."

    Spinifex and Sand David Wynford Carnegie 1885

  • With quartz "outcrop" that lay atop, now leveled to its edge,

    Complete Poetical Works Bret Harte 1869

  • He was on a thickly wooded terrace with a blank wall of "outcrop" on one side nearly as high as the pines which pressed close against it.

    Openings in the Old Trail Bret Harte 1869

  • I can possibly blame my cross-lateralism for getting left and right mixed up, but definitely not for the use of the word 'outcrop' when I actually meant 'islet'.

    Word Magazine - Comments 2008

  • I can possibly blame my cross-lateralism for getting left and right mixed up, but definitely not for the use of the word 'outcrop' when I actually meant 'islet'.

    Word Magazine - Comments 2008

  • I can possibly blame my cross-lateralism for getting left and right mixed up, but definitely not for the use of the word 'outcrop' when I actually meant 'islet'.

    Word Magazine - Comments neslon 2008

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