outstand
Formsoutstands, outstanding, outstood
- 1To project outward from the main body and stand out prominently from its surroundings.
The bay window outstands from the otherwise flat facade.
Several buttresses outstand from the cathedral walls.
Note
It takes no object and is usually followed by from. In Charles L. Welton's 1971 description of a releasable mooring rope, a lever outstands from the throat block, which is literal projection. In Adrian Sanqui's Drawing Frogs (2015), a frog outstands from its surroundings by its vivid color, which is prominence to the eye. The construction is the same in both. Only the kind of standing out changes.
- 2To remain or stand beyond another, or beyond a set time or limit; to outlast or outstay it.
Few structures outstand the centuries the way the pyramids do.
Having outstood his leave by a full week, the sailor expected a reprimand when he reached the ship.
Similaroutlast, outstay, overstay, survive
Note
Time is the natural object here. In Shakespeare's Cymbeline (1611) a character says "I have outstood my time," meaning he has stayed past the moment he should have left, much as outstay works today. The other strand is comparison: a difficulty that "outstands all systems" reaches beyond every one of them. Both keep the out- of outlast, going beyond, rather than the out- of the sense of projecting.
- 3To resist effectively; to withstand and endure a hostile force without yielding to it.
The fortress outstood the enemy's bombardment for forty days.
Like Solomon's fool, he outstands all reproof.
1658, John Spencer, Thomas FullerNote
This is the enduring sense, and the one its Germanic relatives still carry: German ausstehen and Swedish utstå both mean "to endure". It is transitive, and its object is a pressure to be borne, such as reproof, an assault, or the harsh climate that Samuel Joseph Mackie's woolly mammoth survived in 1861. The past form is outstood. Today it reads as archaic, and withstand does the same work plainly.
Less common meanings
- 4To remain over and unsettled: unpaid, uncollected, or otherwise not yet resolved.
Two debts still outstand from the previous owner's tenure.
The question of payment outstood through the whole dispute.
Note
Money is the clearest case. In Thomas J. Knight's 1883 testimony, a $30,000 judgment against a boat's crew simply "outstands there," still unpaid and unenforced. The finite verb is archaic, but its present participle lives on as the everyday outstanding of outstanding debts and outstanding questions. That is the form to use today, because "it outstands" sounds antique.
- 5To steer or sail outward from the coast toward the open sea.
The fleet outstood with the morning tide, bound for distant waters.
Captains preferred to outstand well clear of the rocky cape.
Note
A sailor's word that folds the phrase stand out to sea into a single verb. It takes no object: a fleet outstands with the tide, rather than outstanding the harbor. The picture is of a ship holding a seaward course, not of rising above anything, which keeps it distinct from the sense of projecting. Like much sailing-era vocabulary, it is now archaic.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of outstand apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
From Middle English outstanden (also utstanden), equivalent to out- plus stand. It is related to Dutch uitstaan ("to abide, suffer"), German ausstehen ("to stand, endure"), and Swedish utstå ("to suffer, endure").