outblossom

outblossom

English

Etymology

out- +‎ blossom

Alternative forms

• out-blossom

Verb

outblossom (third-person singular simple present outblossoms, present participle outblossoming, simple past and past participle outblossomed)

1. To blossom more beautifully than, or with more flowers than.
   • 1695, William Congreve, Love for Love:

     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, outblossom five-and-twenty.

   • 1884, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Becket:

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

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

     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.

   • 1989, Joseph Raff, ‎Judith Raff -, Fielding's Budget Europe 1990:

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

2. To bloom in spite of.
   • 1971, Dacotah Territory - Issues 1-11, page 62:

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

   • 1989, The Nation - Volume 248, page 322:

     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.

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

     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?

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

     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.

3. To blossom forth; to emerge into a state of blossoming; to flower.
   • 1857, Ballou's Dollar Monthly Magazine - Volume 5, page 421:

     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."

   • 1871, Scribners Monthly - Volume 2, page 207:

     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 .

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

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

   • 1961, Julia Herman Holloway, From My Heart:

     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.

Noun

outblossom (plural outblossoms)

1. The best that is produced (by something); culmination.
   • 1877, Harper's Magazine - Volume 54, page 849:

     Florence herself is the outblossom of modern Italian civilization.

   • 1895, Public Opinion - Volume 17, page 148:

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