Outsails

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To travel by sailing so as to go faster or farther than someone else
2. To move a sailing vessel ahead of another by greater speed or distance
3. To advance in a boat using sails in a way that surpasses another vessel's progress

Etymology: "Outsails" is the third-person singular present form of "outsail," a verb meaning to sail faster than another vessel and leave it behind. The verb is built from the prefix "out-," used here in its sense of surpassing or exceeding, attached to "sail," the familiar word for a ship's canvas and by extension the act of moving a vessel with it. The pairing is transparent: to outsail a rival is to exceed it in the very activity of sailing. The formation follows a pattern English uses freely with "out-," which can attach to many verbs to mean doing something better, faster, or longer than someone else. "Outrun," "outwit," and "outlive" work the same way, and "outsail" simply applies that productive pattern to the sea. Because both parts are ordinary native English words, the verb needed no borrowing from another language to exist.

Synonyms: surpasses, outpaces, outstrips

Antonyms: falls behind, lags, fails