outdraw
outdraw verb: to extract or draw out.
Verb
outdraw (third-person singular simple present outdraws, present participle outdrawing, simple past outdrew, past participle outdrawn)
- To extract or draw out.
- To remove a gun from its holster, and fire it, faster than another.
- Well maybe there's a God above, but all I've ever learned from love, was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you.1984, Leonard Cohen, "Hallelujah" (song)
- To attract a larger crowd than.
- To draw better than; to surpass in creating drawn artworks.
- Certainly he could outdraw just about anybody, and he knew how to tell a story, seamlessly weaving words and pictures together.2003, Bhob Stewart, Bill Pearson, Roger Hill, Against the Grain: Mad Artist Wallace Wood, page 313
Forms of outdraw
| third-person singular present | outdraws |
|---|---|
| present participle | outdrawing |
| past | outdrew |
| past participle | outdrawn |
Origin of outdraw
From Middle English outdrauen, outdrawen, from Old English ūtdragan, from Proto-Germanic *ūtdraganą. Cognate with Saterland Frisian uutdreege, West Frisian útdrage (“to carry out”), Dutch uitdragen (“to carry out”), German austragen (“to deal with; deliver”), Icelandic útdraga (“to extract; draw out”). By surface analysis, out- + draw.
Questions about outdraw
- What does outdraw mean?
- Outdraw means to extract or draw out.
- What part of speech is outdraw?
- Outdraw is a verb.
- What is the past tense of outdraw?
- The past tense of outdraw is outdrew.
Words near outdraw in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: outdraw (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “outdraw.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/outdraw. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.