Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1834-1905
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OUTCARRY, n., v. [′utkere]
I. n. 1. The carrying-out of a body for burial, a funeral.Sh. 1884 C. Rampini Shetland 92:
A Shetland crofter, describing a funeral in Fetlar, pronounced it "the maist decent outcarry he had ever seen in his life, for onybody could ha' got drunk that likit!"
II. v. 1. Of a ship: to carry more sail than (another ship), hence to overtake at sea. Phs. a creation of M. Scott.Sc. 1834 M. Scott T. Cringle's Log viii.:
His Britannic Majesty's schooner Gleam, will, from his greater beam and superior length, outcarry and forereach on you.Sc. 1844 W. H. Maxwell Sports and Adv. Scot. (1855) xiii.:
If the breeze freshened, the Chlorinde outcarried the schooner.
2. Ppl.adj. oot carr[y]in, giving oneself airs, showy, ostentatious.Ags. 1905 A. N. Simpson Bobby Guthrie 56:
"She's a bit dressie." "A puir oot carrin' creatur."
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"Outcarry n., v.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 10 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/outcarry>
