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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
outdo
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
try
▪ After they did this four more times I decided to try to outdo them, and got a sheet of glass ready.
▪ Each regiment tried to outdo all others in its appearance and its marching.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Each state seems to be trying to outdo its neighbors in cutting health services.
▪ Kids always try to outdo each other in attracting the teacher's attention.
▪ Kwan outdid Bobek to win the finals.
▪ Not to be outdone, Stern went on television and made a speech of his own.
▪ The Canadian hockey team has outdone all its rivals.
▪ The singer outdid himself at the festival, singing for almost three hours to noisy applause.
▪ Western Europe and Japan managed to outdo their American competitors in some economic areas.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Bob Dole, the front-runner, was not to be outdone.
▪ Deane, the husband of the youngest Dodson sister, may outdo them all.
▪ Every clansman was determined to outdo the Campbells in display, and looked to his finery.
▪ It was the beneficent by-product of competition between companies, each trying to outdo its rivals in visible splendour and architectural might.
▪ Not to be outdone, Kim put through a new constitution in the North, also without objection or dissent.
▪ When my brother donated his bicycle to the large scrap drive, I donated our swing set to outdo him.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Outdo

Outdo \Out*do"\ (out*d[=oo]"), v. t. [imp. Outdid (out*d[i^]d"); p. p. Outdone (out*d[u^]n"); p. pr. & vb. n. Outdoing.] To go beyond in performance; to excel; to surpass.

An imposture outdoes the original.
--L' Estrange.

I grieve to be outdone by Gay.
--Swift.

To outdo oneself to surpass one's own previous best performance.

Wiktionary
outdo

vb. (context transitive English) To excel; go beyond in performance; surpass.

WordNet
outdo
  1. v. be or do something to a greater degree; "her performance surpasses that of any other student I know"; "She outdoes all other athletes"; "This exceeds all my expectations"; "This car outperforms all others in its class" [syn: surpass, outstrip, outmatch, outgo, exceed, surmount, outperform]

  2. get the better of; "the goal was to best the competition" [syn: outflank, trump, best, scoop]

  3. [also: outdone, outdid]

Usage examples of "outdo".

A daily paper that had dealt faithfully with this accumulating danger would quite as naturally and necessarily have found its distribution impeded, have found itself vigorously outdone by more richly endowed competitors, able because of their wealth to buy up all the most attractive features, able to outdo it in every way with the common reader.

But after the dread feeling of worry and want was finally eradicated from his mind by the abolition of the individual accumulative system, he then began to apply himself carefully to physical development, and as running, jumping and acrobatic work have the best symmetrical effects upon the human form, this kind of exercise was extensively followed, and as each generation succeeded in outdoing the feats of the preceding one, the entire nation finally evolved into one of extraordinary springing propensities.

The audience laughed with her, and began applauding again, as if she were performing some trick that outdid Hotspur himself.

How scarecrow outdoes scarecrow by a scarecrow head, how scarecrows keep bettering their time at elevating scarecrow crosses, how they overcome barbed-wire entanglements, not with old-fashioned wire cutters but by eating them up, barbs and all, then evacuate them barbless in scarecrow fashion, deserves to be recorded on charts, and recorded it is.

Cerebelline Life-mistress who constructed these microforms had outdone herself.

The profuseness of the illuminations outdid the brightness of the meridian sun.

He was also very graceful and well built, with very small hands and feet, and much better dressed than his friends, who went out of their way to outdo the denizens of the Quartier Latin in careless eccentricity of garb, and succeeded.

Every coterie of seamers drifted on tethers and tried to outdo its counterparts for smoothness of joining and accuracy of component integration.

Theos, not to be outdone by his companion in physical courage, bent forward and stroked the cruel-looking beast, who, while submitting to his caress, never for a moment ceased her smothered snarling.

Not to be outdone, the Duchess of Fiano told the superioress that she would make me the almoner of her bounty towards Armelline and Emilie.

In uncouthness of form it outdoes those obsolete old brutes who used to roam about the semi-aqueous world, and live a most uncomfortable life with their great hungering stomachs and huge unsatisfied maws.

Nelson had outdone himself, increasing the holdings until Bridgeport was now one of the wealthiest men in the country.

The sigh I heaved was outdone in weariness and heaviness by the one I heard Cera exhale as she contemplated this spectacle.

Not to be outdone, Ilene would get her countersignature notarized this afternoon.

Not to be outdone, other handlers got their dogs into the act and soon all the dogs were growling, biting and tearing husks off coconuts.