▪ I. outwork, n.
(ˈaʊtwɜːk)
[out- 1, 3.]
1. Any part of the fortifications of a place lying outside the parapet; any detached or advanced work forming part of the defence of a place; an outer defence or outfort.
| 1639 Massinger Unnat. Combat v. ii, Our outworks are surprized, the sentinel slain. 1642 Chas. I Message to Both Houses 11 July, Out-works to defend the Town. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. vi. 190 This fort..had neither ditch nor outwork. 1766 Entick London IV. 327 The tower is light, supported by outworks at the angles. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi. III. 679 Cork was vigorously attacked. Outwork after outwork was rapidly carried. |
b. transf. and fig.
| c 1615 Bacon Advice to Sir G. Villiers v. §7 Wks. 1872 VI. 44 The care of our out-work, the Navy Royal and shipping of the kingdom, which are the walls thereof. 1622 Donne Lett. (1651) 134 All our moralities are but our outworks, our Christianity is our citadel. 1872 Liddon Elem. Relig. ii. 65 Belief in creation is a necessary outwork of any true theism whatever. |
† 2. An extra dish served as a relish; an hors-d'œuvre. Obs.
| 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. I. iii. 69 A pretty Basket well fill'd with the choice eating Fruits of the Season,..which in the Courts of Kings and Princes, is called the Hors-d'oeuvre, or the Out-work. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Anchovy, You may..serve it up to Table for an Out⁓work, with Orange and fry'd Parsley. |
3. Work upon the outside or exterior of anything.
| 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2655/4 A Golden Sword drawn with some Outworks upon the Head and Shell. 1716–17 in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) II. 223 For the workemen in fitting up the six chambers their out work, in his new Addition to his Refronting the Coll. w{supt}{suph} freestone. |
4. (out-work.) Work done outside, i.e. out of doors, out of the house, out of the shop or factory, etc.; in Cricket = out-fielding.
| 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. Contents 10 Commencement of the Outwork of the ensuing Season. 1813 R. Kerr Agric. Surv. Berw. xv. 420 What is called out-work, as helping to fill muck carts, spreading the muck, setting and hoeing potatoes [etc.]. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 3 June 7/1 He cordially joined in I―'s pæan over the out-work of the 'Varsity. ‘The fielding of the Oxonians has been grand.’ |
▪ II. outwork, v.
(aʊtˈwɜːk)
[out- 15, 15 b, 21, 18.]
1. trans. † a. To bring out as a result of work, to produce (obs.); b. To work out to a conclusion; to complete. (poetic.)
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 4144 Ydolatrie..ofte ut wroȝte hem sorȝes dref. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 65 For now three dayes of men were full outwrought, Since he this hardy enterprize began. 1901 T. Hardy Mute Opinion 14, I saw, in web unbroken, Its history outwrought. |
† 2. To excel in work or workmanship. Obs.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. (Grosart) V. 253, I do not thinke but all the Smiths in London, Norwich, or Yorke..would enuy him, if they could not outworke him. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. ii. 206 She did lye In her Pauillion..O're-picturing that Venus, where we see The fancie out-work Nature. 1782 H. More Belshazzar ii. Dramas 175 Thou hast out-wrought the pattern he bequeath'd thee, And quite outgone example. |
3. To surpass or outdo in working; to work more strenuously or faster than.
| 1611 B. Jonson Catiline iii. iii, But, in your violent acts, The fall of torrents and the noise of tempests,..Be all out⁓wrought by your transcendant furies. 1647 Trapp Comm. Rev. xii. 12 He makes all haste he can to outwork the children of light. 1880 A. H. Huth Buckle II. 171 Captain Cook found that his sailors could outwork the islanders. |