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outrun, n.

DRAFT REVISION June 2009

Brit. /atrn/, U.S. /atrn/  Forms: see OUT- prefix and RUN n.²  [< OUT- prefix + RUN n.² In sense 4 after German Auslauf. Compare earlier OUTRUN v., OUTRUNNER n.², OUTRUNE n.] 

    1. An outcome, a result. rare.

1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800: Proc. Parl. 34/1 A comparison of the revenues and charges of the year 1798-9 as estimated, and according to the actual out-run. 1910 J. WANAMAKER in J. H. Appel Business Biogr. John Wanamaker (1930) p. viii, Who can figure out the future of the outrun of what is still only in outline?

    2. a. Chiefly Sc. and Austral. An outlying or distant piece of grazing land on a farm; outlying pasturage.

1870 Trans. Highland Soc. (1880) 20 The hill sheep used to have outruns of heather or other coarse pasture. 1890 ‘R. BOLDREWOOD’ Colonial Reformer vi. 47 They'd come off a very far out-run. 1895 Daily News 3 Apr. 5/4 More attention is being paid to cultivation, to rotation of crops, to reclamation of outruns. 1911 A. SEAREY By Flood & Field xlii. 282 The McArthur River Station, at the head of Kilgour Creek, had an outrun about eighty miles distant, in charge of a stockman named McDonald. 1955 D. D. C. P. MOULD Irish Pilgrimage ii. 7 The heathered hills provided and still provide a good outrun of rough grazing for cattle and sheep. 1997 Countryman Spring 149 ‘Crofts’, so-called for the Gaelic word croit, meaning a small area of enclosed land, with no outrun for the grazing of cattle which for long had been the mainstay of the Highland economy.

    b. Sc. The enclosed arable land belonging to a croft, as opposed to common pastureland.

1898 Shetland News 3 Dec. (E.DD.), The ‘outrun’, or enclosed arable land which surrounds the homestead, and over which each crofter has exclusive rights. 1978 A. FENTON Island Blackhouse 49 The croft had only 0.4 ha of outrun.

    3. The act or fact of running out; spec. the outward run of a sheepdog to gather sheep.

1884 American 8 308 To check the outrun of this. 1921 Kelso Chron. 12 Aug. 2 No. 16 was Fan, a nice stamp of a working collie. Her outrun was up to the mark. 1938 J. H. MCCULLOCH Sheep Dogs iv. 35 (heading) Course [for qualifying trials]:..Gathering400 yards. In outrun, dog may be directed on either side. 1955 Galloway Gaz. 1 Oct. 6 His dog ‘Garry’ won the Rosebowl for the best outrun and lift. 1982 E. HALSALL Sheepdog Trials i 14 The whole trial from outrun to finish had to be completed within thirty minutes.

    4. Skiing. A level stretch at the foot of a ski run.

1913 F. H. HARRIS Dartmouth out o' Doors 101 The ‘out-run’the level stretch at the foot of the hill on which the jumpers check their speed. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XX. 749/2 He leans far forward over the points of his skis with arms outstretched, planing his body to increase his distance, lands with a slight give to his knees and speeds onto the outrun. 1963 Amer. Speech 38 206 Out run, in general, the bottom end of a ski run. In ski-jumping, the distance between the take-off and the landing point. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XVI. 836/2 After the slope levels off, the jumper stops by turning on the outrun.

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