outgrow, v.
(aʊtˈgrəʊ)
[out- 18, 17, 14.]
1. trans. To surpass in growth, to grow faster than; to grow taller or bigger than. Also refl.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. i. 104 You said, that idle Weeds are fast in growth: The Prince, my Brother, hath out⁓growne me farre. 1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scint., Isaac's Marriage, But thou Didst thy swift years in piety outgrow. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 119 His avarice outgrew even the growth of his wealth. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 408 They often let the weeds out-grow the corn. 1878 Hardy Ret. Native I. i. iii. 54 His mother cried for scores of hours when 'a was a boy, for fear he should out⁓grow himself and go for a soldier. |
2. To grow out of, or beyond the limits or capacity of, to become too large for (clothes, etc.).
| 1691–8 Norris Pract. Disc. (1711) III. 113 We outgrow our Pleasures, as we do our Clothes. 1833 Marryat P. Simple vi, You have enough..to last you till you out⁓grow them. 1860 Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. i. vii, ‘I doubt they'll outgrow their strength’, she added. 1872 Routledge's Ev. Boy's Ann. 613 He had out-grown everything. 1876 Merivale Rom. Triumv. viii. 156 The population had far outgrown the accommodation it afforded. |
3. fig. To grow out of or beyond (habits, opinion, circumstances, etc.); to leave behind in the process of growth or development.
| 1665 Glanvil Scepsis Sci. x. 54 Even our gray heads out⁓grow not those errors which we have learn't before the Alphabet. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 263 ¶6 By my Care you outgrew them [convulsions]. 1832 H. Martineau Homes Abroad vi. 78 Botany Bay may in time outgrow the odium attached to its name. 1865 Lightfoot Galatians (1874) 30 The weak and beggarly elements which they had outgrown. |
4. intr. To grow out, spring forth. rare.
| 1861 W. Barnes in Macm. Mag. June 127 The plantling is cut off; and instead of it there may outgrow two others. |