Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(Aus../N.Z) unpopular, out of favour, penniless or destitute.

1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 OUTER, ON THE – To be poor; to be outside.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 279: He was outside all that, ‘on the outer’, as they would say.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 230: I’m on the outer as usual and Annie wouldn’t speak to me in the hospital.
1969		A. Buzo Rooted III iii: I’m already on the outer with Mum, as it is.
1976		D. Ireland Glass Canoe (1982) 73: Sometimes a woman on the outer with the Great Lover would approach old Tom, who would promise to get her back into favour.
1985		B. Simon ‘Outers’ Born in the RSA (1997) 409: richard: Are you on the outers? hennie: Hey! My buddy – what else?
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 80/2: on the outer out of favour, perhaps rejected, or penniless; from the outer enclosure at a racecourse.
1993		G. Disher Deathdeal [ebook] ‘It wouldn’t look good. They’re trying to build up a team spirit and I’d be on the outer if you were there’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2020		D. Whish-Wilson Shore Leave 96: He was now on the outer and needed a way back in.