ˈout-of-ˈdoor, -ˈdoors, a. and n.
Also out o' door(s.
[The advb. phrase out of door(s (see out of prep. phr. III, door 5 a, and a-doors) used attrib., or subst.; in the attrib. use the form out-of-door is the more common.
The earlier form of the phrase was out at door(s, to which, however, the attrib. use appears not to go back.]
A. adj.
1. That is outside the house, in the open air; done or grown in the open air; for use outside the house.
| α 1800 H. Wells Constantia Neville (ed. 2) II. 94 Ignorance of the routine of out-of-door business. 1845 Florist's Jrnl. 115 If out-of-door varieties are most desirable. 1876 J. S. Bristowe Th. & Pract. Med. (1878) 854 Moderate out-of-door exercise. |
| β 1831 Edin. Rev. LIV. 308 The reform..arms us against the out-of-doors poacher. 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. ii, Her out-of-doors life was perfect. Her in-doors life had its drawbacks. 1883 A. Thomas Modern Housewife 67 The question of out-of-doors garments for children. |
| fig. 1855 Longfellow in Life (1891) II. 288 What an expansive, sunny, out-of-door nature Rossini has! |
2. spec. a. Outside the Houses of Parliament;
b. Carried on or given outside a workhouse, as
out-of-door relief.
| 1802 Canning in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) I. 501 No out-of-doors' measure..will attain the end. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxiii, Don't you think out-of-door relief a very bad thing? 1897 Morley in Daily News 4 Oct. 8/2 Out-of-doors or extra Parliamentary speaking. Mr. Pitt..only made one out-of-door speech in all his career, and that was a speech..of three sentences only. |
B. n. (the
adj. used
ellipt.) The world outside the house; the open air; also
fig.| 1819 Keats Let. 4 Feb. (1958) II. 37 One not ill enough to forget out-of-doors. 1856 G. J. Whyte-Melville Kate Cov. xi, I'm fond of the beautiful ‘out-of-doors’, instead of the fireside. 1858 Glenny Gard. Every-day Bk. 87/2 To provide Cucumber plants for out-of-doors. 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVI. 34/2 It was the untamed luxuriance of the out-of-doors that we love. 1970 D. Mathew Courtiers of Henry VIII iii. vi. 206 Henry VIII had been a great King of the out-of-doors. 1975 R. V. Redinger Geo. Eliot (1976) vi. 377 The many scenes which take place in the unhampered out-of-doors. |
Hence
ˈout-of-ˈdoorer nonce-wd., one who is or goes out-of-doors;
ˌout-of-ˈdoorness nonce-wd., the state or condition of being out-of-doors.
| a 1845 Hood To St. Swithin iv, A dripping Pauper crawls along the way, The only real willing out-of-doorer. 1929 W. Deeping Roper's Row xxiii. 255 Hazzard liked..the play of the wind through his aggressive hair. It gave him a feeling of out-of-doorness and of freedom. |