outblossom

present singular third person outblossoms · participle present outblossoming · participle past outblossomed · past outblossomed · alternative out-blossom

1. To blossom more beautifully than, or with more flowers than.

   True, one rose will outblossom the rest, one rose in a bower.

   1884, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Becket

   3 more examples

   Fifty a contemptible Age! Not at all, a very faſhionable Age I think—I aſſure you, I know very conſiderable Beaus, that ſet a good Face upon Fifty,. Fifty! I have ſeen Fifty in a ſide Box by Candle-light, out-bloſſom Five and Twenty.

   1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, pages 76–77

   For cars using artificial flowers, an Oldsmobile entered by the local agency was conceded to “outblossom” its rivals, the color scheme being purple and white, clematis blossoms being used to further the effect.

   1910, Motor World Wholesale - Volumes 22-23, page 337

   The nationwide spring, summer, and fall flower festivals are thought by many to outblossom those in Holland.

   1989, Joseph Raff, Judith Raff -, Fielding’s Budget Europe 1990

2. To bloom in spite of.

   I hear in her poems something that will outblossom hell itself and help us all to turn it back into earth again.

   1971, Dacotah Territory - Issues 1-11, page 62

   3 more examples

   For a mere $1.50 per word we will introduce you to our audience of 250,000 hardy perennials who survived the Reagan winter. Meet them as they prepare to outblossom Bush.

   1989, The Nation, volume 248, page 322

   And the chosen helper, this splash of colour, will it outblossom the greyness of discord, the black of mourning and the white of restrained emptiness?

   1993, Malcolm Green, The Golden Bomb: Phantastic German Expressionist Stories, page 146

   More than once she stopped to listen, in the hush of the timid south wind creeping through the dishevelled wood; and once, but only once, she was glad to see her first primrose and last, and stooped to pluck, but, on second thoughts, left it to outblossom her.

   2013, R. D. Blackmore, Frida, or The Lover's Leap: A Legend Of The West Country, page 37

3. To blossom forth; to emerge into a state of blossoming; to flower.

   Carrol did not know, then, that it was the outblossoming of Mary's love nature that gave such charm to her life and presence.

   1897, Helen Van-Anderson, It is Possible: A Story of Life, page 119

   3 more examples

   Be strong! the wind to the shorn lamb is tempered; The way, though weary, teacheth to repose ; Life, though with bitter memories hampered, Will yet outblossom as the summer rose."

   1857, Ballou’s Dollar Monthly Magazine, volume V, page 421

   I know not why I make this confession, unless it be that I want to tell you how lenient the sense of my own self-esteem makes me with persons whose conceit outblossoms into vanity and positive egotism .

   1871, Scribners Monthly, volume II, page 207

   Full many a time I've watched that star / Outblossom through the night's allure, / And wondered if its hearthstones far / Know love that will endure.

   1961, Julia Herman Holloway, From My Heart

plural outblossoms · alternative out-blossom

1. The best that is produced (by something); culmination.

   Florence herself is the outblossom of modern Italian civilization.

   1877, Harper's Magazine - Volume 54, page 849

   1 more example

   Religion, as such, is the outblossom of human nature in its entirety.

   1895, Public Opinion - Volume 17, page 148