Definition of "outstrip"
outstrip
verb
third-person singular simple present outstrips, present participle outstripping, simple past and past participle outstripped or outstript
To move more quickly than (someone or something) so as to outrun or leave it behind.
Quotations
And leaſt that I in telling of my tale may longer bee, / Than they in ronning of their race, outſtripped quight was shée. / And he that wan her, marying her enioyd her for his fée.
1567, Ovid, “The Tenth Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], folio 134, recto
[…] Bingley, who wanted to be alone with Jane, proposed their all walking out. […] Bingley and Jane, however, soon allowed the others to outstrip them. They lagged behind, while Elizabeth, Kitty, and Darcy, were to entertain each other.
1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], page 270
There was a violent jostle between the remaining men. […] The MacQuern overtook Mr. Oover at St. Mary's and outstripped him in Radcliffe Square.
1911 October 26, Max Beerbohm, chapter VIII, in Zuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, published 1912, page 146
(figuratively) To exceed or surpass (someone or something).
Quotations
Death and deſtruction dogge thee at the heeles, / Thy Mothers name is ominous to children, / If thou wilt outſtrip death, go croſſe the ſeas, / And liue with Richmond, from the reach of hell, […]
c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, [Act IV, scene i]
[A]s the eſtrich, the moſt burning ſighted bird of all others, inſomuch as the female of them hatcheth not her egs by couering them, but by the effectual rayes of her eyes, as he, I ſay, outſtrippeth the nimbleſt trippers of his feathered condition and[sic – meaning in?] footmanſhip, onely ſpurd on with the needle quickning goade vnder his ſide: ſo hee no leſſe burning ſighted than the eſtrich, ſpurde on to the race of honor by the ſweet rayes of his miſtres eyes, perſwaded himſelfe he ſhould outſtrip all other in running to the goale of glorie, only animated and incited by hir excellence.
1594, Tho[mas] Nashe, “The Vnfortunate Traueller”, in The Vnfortvnate Traveller. Or, The Life of Iacke Wilton, London: […] T. Scarlet for C[uthbert] Burby, […]
[…] O Ferdinand, / Doe not ſmile at me, that I boaſt her of, / For thou ſhalt finde ſhe will out-ſtrip all praiſe / And make it halt, behinde her.
1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i], page 14, column 1
Thou art too hard for me in Love; / There is no dealing wth Thee in that Art, / That is Thy Masterpeece, I see. / When I contrive and plott to prove / Something that may be conquest on my part, / Thou still, O Lord, outstrippest mee.
a. 1634, George Herbert, “Lilies of the Temple”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Complete Works in Verse and Prose of George Herbert. […] (The Fuller Worthies’ Library), volume II (Verse), London: […] [Robson and Sons] for private circulation, published 1874, section II (Love), stanza 1, page 23, lines 1–6
We shall not die, but live,—and, of his grace, we love! / For, in the mysteries of Mercy, the One fore-knowing Spirit / Outstrippeth reason's halting choice, and winneth men to Him: […]
1842, Martin Farquhar Tupper, “Of Immortality”, in Proverbial Philosophy: A Book of Thoughts and Arguments, Originally Treated (Second Series), London: J[ohn] Hatchard and Son, […], page 185
With a population that has risen by over 25 per cent since 1940 to over 10m, Tokyo has now outstripped London as the world's largest city.
1963 October, G[eoffrey] Freeman Allen, R. K. Evans, “The Japanese National Railways and the New Tokaido Line”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allen Publishing, page 239
[Y]our baby can easily learn simple signs for objects, events, feelings, and needs. With these signs literally at your baby's fingertips, communication between you can flourish during that difficult time from about six to thirty months, when your baby's desire to communicate outstrips his capacity to say words.
2009, Linda Acredolo, Susan Goodwyn, “Introducing the Baby Signs Program”, in Baby Signs: How to Talk to Your Baby before Your Baby Can Talk, 3rd edition, New York, N.Y., Chicago, Ill.: McGraw Hill, pages 13–14
[T]he average increase in insurance premiums over the last decade was 138 percent, far outstripping the rate of inflation and far outstripping, as you point out, the growth in wages and income.
2009 September 22, Gerry Connolly (Virginia), “Democratic Freshman Class Hour on Health Care”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 111th Congress, First Session (United States House of Representatives), volume 155, part 16, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, page 22291, column 1
Kim [Jong-il] was educated at the newly founded university in Pyongyang, named after his father [Kim Il-sung], graduating in 1964. The 1960s and early 1970s were the golden years for the DPRK. It undertook rapid industrialisation, economically outstripped its southern competitor, and enjoyed the support of both the People's Republic of China, and the Soviet Union.
2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, archived from the original on 6 May 2021
It also singled out ten routes (all closed except Leeds-Bradford/Ilkley) to show how costs outstripped earnings, without mention of what through-journey revenue they generated for the main lines to which they were connected.
2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real rail wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 53
(archaic, rare) To exceed or overstep (a boundary or limit); to transgress.
Quotations
Therefore Gentlemen, / And kinde Spectators, if I haue out-ſtript / An old mans gratuitie, or ſtrict canon, thinke / What a yong Wife, and a good Brayne may doe: / Stretch Ages truth ſometimes, and crack it too.
1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, Act V, scene v