Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To sail faster than; leave behind in sailing.

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

  • transitive verb To excel, or to leave behind, in sailing; to sail faster than.

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

  • verb To sail faster or further that another

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

  • verb sail faster or better than

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

out- +‎ sail

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Examples

  • “It is a losing race,” he said; “no ship can outsail death.”

    Mark Twain: A Biography 2003

  • If we're to outsmart and outsail the Ilse Witch and her Mwellrets and perhaps do battle with Black Moclips, we have to be at our best.

    Antrax Brooks, Terry 2001

  • To begin with, service on board a privateer was more carefree and democratic, safer since a privateer was generally “so heavily sparred,” writes one historian, “that she could outsail a more powerful vessel”, and more lucrative.

    Angel in the Whirlwind Benson Bobrick 1997

  • To begin with, service on board a privateer was more carefree and democratic, safer since a privateer was generally “so heavily sparred,” writes one historian, “that she could outsail a more powerful vessel”, and more lucrative.

    Angel in the Whirlwind Benson Bobrick 1997

  • She could outsail her square-rigged pursuers, and she did.

    Sharpe's Siege Cornwell, Bernard 1987

  • Although the advantage, except in casualties, was on the side of Destouches, he had decided that the British could outsail his fleet, could get into the Chesapeake before him, and that, therefore, it seemed best to return to Newport.

    Washington Richard Harwell 1968

  • Although the advantage, except in casualties, was on the side of Destouches, he had decided that the British could outsail his fleet, could get into the Chesapeake before him, and that, therefore, it seemed best to return to Newport.

    Washington Richard Harwell 1968

  • Although the advantage, except in casualties, was on the side of Destouches, he had decided that the British could outsail his fleet, could get into the Chesapeake before him, and that, therefore, it seemed best to return to Newport.

    Washington Richard Harwell 1968

  • Although the advantage, except in casualties, was on the side of Destouches, he had decided that the British could outsail his fleet, could get into the Chesapeake before him, and that, therefore, it seemed best to return to Newport.

    Washington Richard Harwell 1968

  • We soon perceived that she could outsail our brig and if the wind held would escape.

    Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, 1995, Memorial Issue Various

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