Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to knock out, to disable.

1894		Mirror of Life 8 Sept. 6/2: ‘I’ll be blowed if you will out me. I’ll not be taken down by any amachure’.
1901		Bateman & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] Folkestone for the Day 🎵 An’ tooth an’ nail we went for ’em, and ‘outed’ near a score.
1905		Marvel III:61 2: ‘Outed, Silas!’ one of the crowd yelled.
1911		J. Masefield Everlasting Mercy 10: ‘Get up,’ cried Jim. I said, ‘I will.’ / Then all the gang yelled, ‘Out him, Bill’.
1915		C.J. Dennis ‘Hitched’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 82: You could ‘a’ outed me right on the spot!
1923		Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves 149: Lord Jasper Mauleverer as near as a toucher outed Bonny Betsy by bribing the head lad.
1932		‘William Hatfield’ Ginger Murdoch 13: He could have been outed there before he regained his bearings. [...] The man never sees the hit that outs him.
1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 121: Nicko outed Ben with a bottle.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 65: Snowy had won his last five fights by a knockout and he’d out Maxie, too.

2. to dismiss from a job, to discharge.

1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Paid at the Face Value’ Sporting Times 7 July 1/4: That’s Scotch-whisky Kate, who outed me last week; / If she’s more than one can manage, you an’ me can give ’er toke, / So come on, and ’elp me down ’er for ’er cheek!
1912		A. Wright Rung In (1931) 261: A poor unfashionable rider pulls his mount [...] and he is had up and ‘outed’ by the stewards.
1916		Aberdeen Jrnl 2 Sept. 4/4: [headline] Mr Ramsay macDonald Outed. The Moray Golf Club [...] has decided to remove the name of Mr Ramsay MacDonald from its roll of membership.
1992		M. Coleman Fatty 58: Russell Vautin, who had been a promising player himself until outed for life by a legitimate [...] tackle, often found it hard to cope with his older brother’s success.

3. to kill.

1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 60: Wouldn’t ’a been worf my while to out a bloke.
1906		E. Pugh Spoilers 67: An’ oh, the day when they outed the copper’s nark! Bits of him all up an’ down the ain’t-it-a-treat.
1918		‘Sapper’ Human Touch 39: If I can reach three figures in them I’ve killed, before they outs me, I reckon we call it ‘quits’.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 12: I stiffen the bear with one flamin’ punch – and I grab the lion by the whiskers and out him with another.

4. to outdo, to surpass.

1900

‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘A Dangerous Dad’ Sporting Times 3 Feb. 1/4: For ’e sat there quite sober, while I copped a ’ead, / Yus, as old as ’e is, ’e can out me.

5. to throw out, e.g. of a meeting; in cite 1996, to ‘warn off’ a racecourse.

1894		E.W. Rogers [perf. Marie Lloyd] The Barmaid 🎵 ‘Here chuck it, Billy, that’s too thick / You talk like that she’ll out you quick’.
1900		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 31 Oct. 1/1: The committee horseshoed M’Dermott and his complaint [...] This aroused the ire of irreproachable Mac, who loudly informed all and sundry that if he bad been ‘outed’ he would chase satisfaction through every law court in New South Wales.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1946		Chelmsford Chron. 2 Aug. 7/6: Millington meeting Interrupter ‘outed’. A interrupter was ‘shown the door’ at the ‘Food’ meeting.
1946		Lithgow Mercury (NSW) 8 Nov. 2/4: Too much drink was allowed to be taken to country dances and [...] the country people took it in hand to see that the element of larrikinism was outed from the dances.
1966		J. Holledge Great Aust. Gamble 115: A runner who finished second in the final was later discovered to be an amateur champion in New Zealand, masquerading under a false name. He was ‘outed’ for life [ibid.] 18: Their verdict was that it had not been allowed to run on its merits, and Corteen was ‘outed’ for a year.
1996		J. Byrell Lairs, Urgers & Coat-Tuggers 128: [T]he stewards decreed that Munro [...] had ‘failed to allow the horse to run according to its merits’. They outed him for two years.

6. to free from a criminal charge.

1974

G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 153: The priority appeared to be outing Peter Rosi, only how Sneed had no notion, or if it was possible at all.

7. (US drugs) to become unconscious as a result of drug use.

1992

T. Williams Crackhouse 75: Nodding for hours is more characteristic of a narcotic like heroin; the stimulant – cocaine – keeps Liz from ‘outing’ completely.