outlandish

The adjective is derived from Middle English outlandisch, outlondish (“foreign”),^[1] from Old English ūtlendisċ (“foreign; strange, outlandish”), from Proto-West Germanic *ūtlandisk, from Proto-Germanic *ūtlandiskaz, from *ūtlandą (“(adjective) alien, foreign; relating to outlying land; (noun) foreign land; outlying land”) + *-iskaz (suffix forming adjectives from nouns with the sense ‘characteristic of; pertaining to’). *Ūtlandą is derived from *ūt- (suffix meaning ‘beyond; external to, on the outside of’) (from Proto-Indo-European *úd (“away; out, outward; upwards”)) + *landą (“area of ground, land”) (from Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“heath; land”)). By surface analysis, outland +‎ -ish.^[2] The noun is derived from the adjective.^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌaʊtˈlændɪʃ/, [ˌaʊ̯t-]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌaʊtˈlændɪʃ/, [ˌaʊ̯t-], [-ˈlɛən-]

• Audio (California):

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌæɔtˈlændɪʃ/
• Rhymes: -ændɪʃ
• Hyphenation: out‧land‧ish

outlandish (comparative more outlandish, superlative most outlandish)

1. (archaic) Of or from a foreign country; not indigenous or native; alien, foreign.

   Synonyms: non-native; see also Thesaurus:foreign

   Antonyms: inlandish, unoutlandish; see also Thesaurus:native

   • 1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, III. Essdras [1 Esdras] viij:[87], folio vij, verso, column 2:

     [W]e haue bꝛokẽ thy ſtatutes ⁊ cõmaundementes agayne, ⁊ mengled o^ꝛ ſelues w^t the vnclẽnes of the outlandiſh heithen.

     [W]e have broken thy statutes and commandments again, and mingled ourselves with the uncleanness of the foreign heathen.

   • 1606, Tho[mas] Dekker, “Apishnesse: Or The First Dayes Triumph”, in The Seuen Deadly Sinnes of London: […], London: […] E[dward] A[llde] for Nathaniel Butter, […], →OCLC, page 32:

     Apiſhneſſe rides in a Chariot made of nothing but cages, in which are all the ſtrangeſt out-landiſh Birds that can be gotten: […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nehemiah 13:26, column 2:

     Did not Solomon king of Iſrael ſinne by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloued of his God, and God made him king ouer all Iſrael: neuertheleſſe, euen him did outlandiſh women cauſe to ſinne.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 123:

     The people therefore of the fair made a great gazing upon them: Some ſaid they vvere Fools, ſome they vvere Bedlams, and ſome they are Outlandiſh-men.

   • 1711 May 4 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “MONDAY, April 23, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 46; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 302:

     [H]e did not like the name of the outlandish man with the golden clock in his stockings.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1752, Samuel Foote, Taste. A Comedy, […], London: […] R[ichard] Francklin, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 9:

     [I]f breeding amongſt Chriſtians vvas as much encouraged as amongſt Dogs and Horſes, vve need not be making Lavvs to let in a Parcel of outlandiſh Locuſts to eat us all up.

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, “A Hand at Cards”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (The Track of a Storm), page 197:

     Slightly observant of the smoky lights; of the people, pipe in mouth, playing with limp cards and yellow dominoes; of the one bare-breasted, bare-armed, soot-begrimed workman reading a journal aloud, and of the others listening to him; of the weapons worn, or laid aside to be resumed; of the two or three customers fallen forward asleep, who in the popular, high-shouldered shaggy black spencer looked, in that attitude, like slumbering bears or dogs; the two outlandish customers approached the counter, and showed what they wanted.

2. (by extension)
   1. Appearing to be foreign; strange, unfamiliar.
      • 1749, Henry Fielding, “A Story Told by Mr. Supple, the Curate. The Penetration of Squire Western. His Great Love for His Daughter, and the Return to It Made by Her.”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV, pages 67–68:

        I believe, Lady, your Ladyſhip obſerved a young VVoman at Church yeſterday at Even-ſong, vvho vvas dreſt in one of your outlandiſh Garments; I think I have ſeen your Ladyſhip in ſuch a one. Hovvever, in the Country, ſuch Dreſſes are / Rara avis in Terris, nigroq; ſimillima Cycno, / That is, Madam, as much to ſay, / A rare Bird upon the Earth, and very like a black Svvan.

      • 1820 September 13, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Little Britain”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number VII, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, pages 97–98:

        Roast beef and plum pudding are also held in superstitious veneration, and port and sherry maintain their grounds as the only true English wines; all others being considered vile outlandish beverages.

   2. Greatly different from common experience; bizarre, outrageous, strange. [from late 16th c.]

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:strange

      Antonyms: unoutlandish; see also Thesaurus:normal

      The rock star wore black with outlandish pink and green spiked hair.

      • 1628, William Prynne, The Vnlouelinesse, of Louelockes. Or, A Summarie Discourse, Proouing: The Wearing, and Nourishing of a Locke, or Loue-locke, to be Altogether Vnseemely, and Vnlawfull unto Christians. […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 1:

        [T]hoſe Laſciuious, Immodeſt, VVhoriſh, or vngodly Faſhions, and Attires, vvhich Metamorphiſe, and Transforme, our Light, and Giddie Females of the Superior and Gentile ranke, into ſundry Antique, Horred, and Out-landiſh ſhapes, from day, to day: […]

      • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter CXIX, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, page 631:

        He was an outlandish figure, with his wide-brimmed hat and pointed beard, among those country folk, and it was easy to see that they thought him very queer; but his spirits were so high, his enthusiasm so contagious, that it was impossible not to like him.

      • 1961 July, “Talking of Trains: The Marylebone Exhibition”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 388:

        Except for an eye-catching sky-blue container boldly and attractively featuring the B.T.C.'s "door-to-door" arrow symbol […], there were no outlandish colour schemes or lettering styles.

      • 1969 (date delivered), R[obert] M[erton] Solow, “Characteristics of Steady States”, in Growth Theory: An Exposition […], London: Clarendon Press, published 1970, →OCLC, page 13:

        I hardly need to add that this story requires outlandish assumptions to make investment behaviour more passive than one would expect it to be in an industrial capitalist economy.

   3. (derogatory) Of a place: far away from where most people are located; in the middle of nowhere, out of the way, remote.

      Synonyms: in the boondocks; see also Thesaurus:distant

      Antonyms: see Thesaurus:near

      • 1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter VIII, in The Woodlanders […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC, page 151:

        It will be very convenient to have a medical man—if he is clever—in one's own parish. I get dreadfully nervous sometimes, living in such an outlandish place; and Sherton is so far to send to.

      • 1915, Virginia Woolf, chapter III, in The Voyage Out, London: Duckworth & Co., […], →OCLC, page 54:

        I will take this occasion of adding that we are both enjoying ourselves in these outlandish parts, and only wish for the presence of our friends (yourself and John, to wit) to make the trip perfectly enjoyable as it promises to be instructive.

• outlandisher (obsolete)
• outlandishlike (archaic or obsolete, rare)
• outlandishly
• outlandishness
• unoutlandish

• outland
• outlander

outlandish

1. (obsolete) A foreign language.
   • 1618 June 3 (Gregorian calendar), Lancelot Andrewes, “A Sermon Preached before the King’s Majesty, at Greenwich, on the Twenty-fourth of May, A.D. MDCXVIII, being Whit-Sunday”, in J[ohn] P[osthumous] W[ilson], editor, Ninety-six Sermons […], volume III, Oxford, Oxfordshire: John Henry Parker, published 1841, →OCLC, page 302:

     [H]ow soon God from Heaven had sent His fiery tongues upon His Apostles, the devil from hell presently sent for his fiery tongues, and put them in the mouths of his apostles, to disgrace and scoff at those of God's sending. […] These good fellows have been at it, and now they can speak nothing but outlandish. Some little broken Greek or Latin they had, and now out it comes.

   • 1752, Samuel Foote, Taste. A Comedy, […], London: […] R[ichard] Francklin, […], →OCLC, Act II, page 29:

     Never ſtir if that Gentleman ben't the ſame that vve ſee'd at the Painting Man's, that vvas ſo zivil to Mother, only he has got a black VVig on, and ſpeaks outlandiſh.

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “outlandish”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.