Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The place where a sewer, drain, or stream discharges.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To burst forth, as upon the enemy; make a sally.
  • noun That which is discharged from an outfall. See outfall, 1.
  • noun The point or place of discharge of a river, drain, culvert, sewer, etc.; mouth; embouchure.
  • noun A sudden eruption of troops from a fortified place; a sally.
  • noun A quarrel; a falling out.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The mouth of a river; the lower end of a water course; the open end of a drain, culvert, etc., where the discharge occurs.
  • noun Prov. Eng. A quarrel; a falling out.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A sudden eruption of troops from a fortified place; sally.
  • noun dialectal A quarrel; a falling out.
  • noun The point or place of discharge of a river, drain, culvert, sewer, etc.; mouth; embouchure.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To burst forth, as upon an enemy; make a sally.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the outlet of a river or drain or other source of water

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From out- +‎ fall. Compare Dutch uitval ("outburst, sally, eruption"), German Ausfall ("falling out, sally"), Swedish utfall ("sally, issue").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English outfallen, equivalent to out- +‎ fall. Compare Dutch uitvallen ("to fall out, sally"), German ausfallen ("to fall out, lunge"), Swedish utfalla ("to fall out").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word outfall.

Examples

  • The weakness underscores investors 'continued uncertainty over the long-term outfall of the credit crunch from this summer, said George Vasic, Canadian equity strategist at UBS Securities.

    Stocks Close Lower on Declines 2007

  • Both entities have confirmed the outfall is a tributary that empties into the Antietam Creek.

    Waynesboro Record Herald Homepage RSS 2009

  • Stage said his department has been working everything from the "outfall" drainage ditch which runs from the Interstate 10 feeder road near Vidor Junior High School under the bridge on East

    orangeleader.com (Orange, Texas) Homepage 2010

  • If a hurricane near New Orleans is accompanied by lots of rain these things are known to happen, the city's own, quite famous, pumps will move the rainwater to three "outfall" canals built for that purpose.

    Harry Shearer: "Katrina" Plus Six Harry Shearer 2011

  • If a hurricane near New Orleans is accompanied by lots of rain these things are known to happen, the city's own, quite famous, pumps will move the rainwater to three "outfall" canals built for that purpose.

    Harry Shearer: "Katrina" Plus Six Harry Shearer 2011

  • If a hurricane near New Orleans is accompanied by lots of rain these things are known to happen, the city's own, quite famous, pumps will move the rainwater to three "outfall" canals built for that purpose.

    Harry Shearer: "Katrina" Plus Six Harry Shearer 2011

  • If a hurricane near New Orleans is accompanied by lots of rain these things are known to happen, the city's own, quite famous, pumps will move the rainwater to three "outfall" canals built for that purpose.

    Harry Shearer: "Katrina" Plus Six Harry Shearer 2011

  • Their configuration altered as she walked on, and other features disclosed themselves in the moving landscape: a church tower and a silage tower in the distance, a yellow combine harvester far off at a field's edge, a shed, a sewage outfall.

    Margaret Drabble | Trespassing 2011

  • If a hurricane near New Orleans is accompanied by lots of rain these things are known to happen, the city's own, quite famous, pumps will move the rainwater to three "outfall" canals built for that purpose.

    Harry Shearer: "Katrina" Plus Six Harry Shearer 2011

  • If a hurricane near New Orleans is accompanied by lots of rain these things are known to happen, the city's own, quite famous, pumps will move the rainwater to three "outfall" canals built for that purpose.

    Harry Shearer: "Katrina" Plus Six Harry Shearer 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.