▪ I. outlaw, n.
(ˈaʊtlɔː)
Forms: 1 {uacu}tlaᵹa, 1–4 utlaȝe, 3 {uacu}tlahe, 3–4, 7 Sc. utlaw(e, (4 vte-, wtelau, -law), 4–5 outlagh(e, 4–7 outlawe, 4– outlaw, (4–5 owt(e)law(e, 5 outelawe, out-, owtlay).
[Late OE. {uacu}tlaᵹa, definite form of {uacu}tlaᵹ, {uacu}tlah adj. ‘outlawed’, used absolutely as n.; a. ON. {uacu}tlagi n. from {uacu}tlagr outlawed, banished; f. {uacu}t out, out of + ON. *lagu, lög (pl. of lag), OE. laᵹu, law. Cf. these examples of the OE. adj.:—
c 924 Laws of Edward & Guthrum c. 6. §6 (Schmid) ᵹif he man to deaðe ᵹefylle, beo he þonne utlah. a 1016 Laws of æthelred i. c. 1 §9 Beo se þeof utlah wið eall folc. c 1050 O.E. Chron. an. 1048 Ða cwæð man Sweᵹen eorl utlah.]
1. a. One put outside the law and deprived of its benefits and protection; one under sentence of outlawry (q.v.).
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. ix. (Z.) 70 Hic et hæc exlex, utlaᵹa oððe butan æ. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. (1883) 296 He scel beon utlaᵹa wið me. c 1205 Lay. 1121 Vtlaȝen [c 1275 vtlawes] hefden i-ræued þat lond. a 1300 Cursor M. 7686 (Cott.) Als he war vtelau [v.rr. vtelaw, outlagh, outlawe] sua wond he. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 102 For outlawes in þe wode and vnder banke lotyeth. c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's T. 130. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 389 Mansleers ffelons Outlawes ravysshers of wymen. a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 54 b, A compaigne of traytors, thefes, outlawes and ronneagates of our awne nacion. 1643 Milton Divorce ii. iii, Sure sin can have no tenure by law at all but is rather an eternall outlaw. 1718 Free-thinker No. 1 ¶5 The Outlaw has, of all Men, the least Pretensions to Liberty. 1821 Byron Two Foscari iii. i, Their sire was a mere hunted outlaw. 1848 Wharton Law Lex. s.v. Outlawry, The maxim applicable to outlaws is, ‘Let them be answerable to all, and none to them’. Accordingly any person outlawed is civiliter mortuus. |
b. More vaguely: One banished or proscribed; an exile, a fugitive. (In early use not distinguishable from the main sense.)
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 54 Þerefter of þen ilke weren..hire ueader & hire breðren, se noble princes alse heo weren, vtlawes imakede. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 431 Caym fro him fleȝ, Wið wif and haȝte, and wurð ut-laȝe. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 694/26 Hic, hec exul, a nowtlay. 1530 Palsgr. 250/2 Out⁓lawe, banny. 1568 Grafton Chron. I. 179 Some of the Lordes had sent for Edward the outlawe, sonne of Edmond Ironsyde for to be theyr king. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 58 A poore vnminded Out-law, sneaking home. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. (1846) V. 12 The posterity of the outlaw Ismael. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 341 At last necessity plainly compels him to be an outlaw from his native land. |
c. One living in transgression of the law; a lawless person.
| 1880 J. F. Clarke Self-Culture ix. 200 It is only for the outlaws, the dangerous classes..that we build prisons and establish courts. The law is for the lawless. |
d. fig. A wild, untamed, or hunted beast.
| 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 14 Of lions fierce (or if ought fiercer be, Amongst the heards of woody outlawes fell). 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 219 They had mustered their own outlaws [wild lean savage cattle]. |
† 2. a. Outlawry. b. Sentence or proclamation of outlawry. Obs. rare.
| 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 810 Persecute..with banishment and out-lawe, prison..wrongfull iudgements. 1652 Wadsworth tr. Sandoval's Civ. Wars Spain 115 Hee made publick Acts, Proclamations and Out-laws against the Segovians. |
3. Comb. Also attrib. or quasi-adj., esp. in outlaw strike, a withdrawal of labour without the authority of a trade union, an unofficial strike.
| 16.. Ballad Robin Hood in Furniv. Percy Folio I. 37 The worthy exploits he acted before Queen Katherine, he being an Out-lawman. 1903 Wide World Mag. Mar. 546/2 The whole Western country was scoured for the wildest and most vicious ‘outlaw’ bronchos that could be found. 1912 C. A. Siringo Cowboy Detective v. 87, I told him to trot out his outlaw horse. 1920 Harvey's Weekly 17 Apr. 5/2 The ‘outlaw’ railroad strikes..are unjustifiable. 1931 Economist 6 June 1215/2 Arbitration would consume a good many months at best, and would probably be followed by ‘outlaw’ strikes. 1937 Times 22 Nov. 21/3 On top of this disappointment came a fresh outbreak of ‘outlaw’ strikes in the motor industry. 1949 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 13 Mar. 22/4 His brother Billy was thrown by an outlaw bronco. 1977 New Yorker 6 June 90/2, I did bring in fifty of them outlaw steers that way once. |
▪ II. outlaw, v.
(ˈaʊtˌlɔː)
[Late OE. (ᵹe){uacu}tlaᵹian, f. {uacu}tlaᵹ, {uacu}tlaᵹa, outlaw n.1 Cf. ON. {uacu}tlegja and {uacu}tlægja to banish.]
1. trans. To put outside the law; to proscribe; † to exile, banish; to deprive of the benefit and protection of law; to declare an outlaw, to inflict outlawry upon (a person), in a criminal prosecution or civil action.
| 10.. O.E. Chron. an. 1014 (MS. E) And æfre ælcne Denisce cyning utlaᵹede [MS. C. utlah] of Englalande ᵹecwædon. Ibid. an. 1055 Utlaᵹode [MS. C. ᵹeutlaᵹode] mann ælfgar eorl. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 404/79 Þe furste ȝer þat seint Iohan þus i-outlawed was. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 33 He..was outlawed for a felonie. 1382 Wyclif Baruch iii. 19 Thei ben outlawid [1388 distried] and to helle thei wente doun. 1430–1 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 377/2 Unto the tyme the same Owen..was utlawed. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 319 Patmos..þere Seynt Iohan þe Euangeliste was, whan he was outlawed oute of oþ er londes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 375/2 Outlawyn, utlego, extermino. 1552 Huloet, Outlaw, exulo, proscribo, relego. a 1577 Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. ii. xiv. (1609) 61 The Clarke of the Exigents is to frame all manner of Processes of Exigi facias, which doe issue out of that Court to out-law any man, and to record the outlawrie. 1679–88 Secr. Serv. Money Chas. & Jas. (Camden) 109 To be..paid over to several tradesmen, creditors of Mrs. Ellen Gwynne, in satisfaction of their debts, for which the said Ellen stood outlawed {pstlg}729 2s. 3d. 1836–48 H. Coleridge North. Worthies (1852) I. 63 One Blood, outlawed for an attempt to take Dublin Castle,..some months ago seized the crown and sceptre in the Tower. 1875 W. McIlwraith Guide Wigtownshire 76 M{supc}Dowall had fallen behind in the payment of certain Crown dues, and was outlawed. |
b. transf. and fig.
| c 1380 Wyclif. Wks. (1880) 109 Anticrist wolde quenche & owtlaue holy writt. ― Sel. Wks. III. 383 Charite is oute⁓lawed amonge hom. a 1716 South Serm. (J.), A drunkard is outlawed from all worthy and creditable converse. |
2. To deprive of legal force. Now only in U.S.: see quot. 1864.
| 1647 Ward Simp. Cobler 18 He will out-law the Law, quite out of the word and world. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) II. 490 Perceiving that our English common law was outlawed in those parts. 1864 Webster, Outlaw 2 To remove from legal jurisdiction or enforcement, as to outlaw a debt or claim. |
b. intr. for refl.
| 1895 ‘Mark Twain’ in Westm. Gaz. 9 Sept. 8/1 Honour is a harder master than the law. It cannot compromise for less than an hundred cents on the dollar, and its debts never outlaw. |