Definitions

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

  • noun A fugitive from the law.
  • noun A habitual criminal.
  • noun A rebel; a nonconformist.
  • noun A person excluded from normal legal protection and rights.
  • noun A wild or vicious horse or other animal.
  • transitive verb To declare illegal.
  • transitive verb To place under a ban; prohibit.
  • transitive verb To deprive (one declared to be a criminal fugitive) of the protection of the law.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who is excluded from the benefit of the law, or deprived of its protection. Formerly it was lawful in Great Britain for any one to kill such a person. See outlawry.
  • noun A disorderly person living in defiant violation of the law; a habitual criminal.
  • noun Synonyms Robber, bandit, brigand, freebooter, highwayman, marauder.
  • To deprive of the benefit and protection of law; declare an outlaw; proscribe.
  • To remove from legal jurisdiction; deprive of legal force. An obligation which by reason of the lapse of time has become barred by the statute of limitations, so that no action will lie on it, is said to be outlawed.
  • noun A vicious, untamed animal: sometimes used attributively.

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

  • noun A person excluded from the benefit of the law, or deprived of its protection.
  • noun A person engaging habitually in criminal activity, especially theft or robbery; an habitually lawless person, especially one who is a fugitive from the law.
  • transitive verb To deprive of the benefit and protection of law; to declare to be an outlaw.
  • transitive verb To remove from legal jurisdiction or enforcement; ; to deprive of legal force.
  • transitive verb To render illegal; to ban, prohibit, or proscribe under sanction of some penalty.

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

  • noun A fugitive from the law.
  • noun A person who is excluded from normal legal rights.
  • noun A person who operates outside established norms.
  • noun A wild horse.
  • noun humorous An in-law: a relative by marriage.
  • verb To declare illegal
  • verb To place a ban upon
  • verb To remove from legal jurisdiction or enforcement.
  • verb To deprive of legal force.

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

  • adjective disobedient to or defiant of law
  • adjective contrary to or forbidden by law
  • verb declare illegal; outlaw
  • noun someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime

Etymologies

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

[Middle English outlaue, from Old English ūtlaga, from Old Norse ūtlagi, from ūtlagr, outlawed, banished : ūt, out; see ud- in Indo-European roots + lög, law; see legh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English outlaue ("banished"), Old English ūtlaga ("outlaw").

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