Word.ws English Dictionary

outrunner

outrunner noun: an offshoot; a branch.

Noun

outrunner (plural outrunners)

  1. An offshoot; a branch.
    • some out-runner of the river, where the streams run not strongly1620, William Lauson, "Comments on The Secrets of Angling", 2nd edition, in Edward Arber (editor), An English Garner, 1877
    • It is flanked on its east side by metamorphic Cretaceous limestone, which also forms the northern outrunner of this spur.1891, Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Texas - Volume 2, page 681
  2. A person or animal who accompanies a vehicle or procession but who is not seated in the vehicle or part of the procession.
    • Mail, guns and luggage aboard, and ourselves perched in the only seat of honor and comfort, that with the driver, we tore away through a long avenue lined with native shops, an outrunner hanging on for dear life to the more obstrepersous horse for the first quarter of a mile.1889, James Ricalton, “Buffalo-Hunting in Ceylon”, in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly, volume 28, page 712
    • It is supported by an outrunner trotting abreast, and retained by two as slender ropes, while a strap attaching his apology for a bridle to that of his neighbour hinders him from running at an angle of more than 45° to the line of progression.1897 January, J. Y. Simpson, “The Great Siberian Iron Road”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 161, page 12
  3. An electric motor having the rotor outside the stator.
  4. One who outruns.
    • Such as in a game of backgammon one can be outrun, and other times one can be the outrunner, so are the brave-hearted riders, who roam the hunting ground sometimes apprehended, and other times become apprehenders themselves.2016, Tudor Salagean, Transylvania in the Second Half of the Thirteenth Century: The Rise of the Congregational System, page 71

Forms of outrunner

pluraloutrunners

Questions about outrunner

What does outrunner mean?
Outrunner means an offshoot; a branch.
What part of speech is outrunner?
Outrunner is a noun.
What is the plural of outrunner?
The plural of outrunner is outrunners.

Words near outrunner in the dictionary

  1. outrules
  2. outruling
  3. outrun
  4. outrun the constable
  5. outrung
  6. outrunner
  7. outrunners
  8. outrunning
  9. outruns
  10. outrush
  11. outrushed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: outrunner (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: “outrunner.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/outrunner. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.