outlying

comparative more outlying · superlative most outlying

1. Relatively remote from some central location.

   The more outlying villages were never visited by their member of parliament.

   3 more examples

   During the first year or so of British Railways, some of the simpler and more obvious inter-regional transfers of outlying sections were effected, such as those of the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway from the London Midland Region to the Eastern Region; the South Wales lines of the former L.M.S.R. to the Western Region; the Carlisle-Silloth branch (an L.N.E.R. legacy of a North British "border raid") to the London Midland, and so on.

   1951 April, D. S. Barrie, “British Railways: A Survey, 1948-1950”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 224

   Lorries collect the milk from the various outlying farms, whence it is taken to the district distribution centre to undergo pasteurisation.

   1959 March, R. C. Riley, “Home with the Milk”, in Trains Illustrated, pages 155, 157

   The causeways were laid as hard paths for heavily laden pack-animals bringing in wool from outlying hamlets and farms.

   1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications, page 58

   Synonyms: distant

2. Located outside of some boundary or limit.

   When the map was redrawn after the war, our cousin found herself living in outlying territory.

plural outlyings

1. A region relatively remote from a central location.

   The other areas and the outlyings will have to come in at a later date, although the council wrestles with that periodically. But the amount of money involved would be substantial.

   1975, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Public Works. Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution, Water Pollution Control Act of 1972: Effect on Small Communities