[out-law] 
| 1. | a lawless person or habitual criminal, esp. one who is a fugitive from the law. |
| 2. | a person, group, or thing excluded from the benefits and protection of the law. |
| 3. | a person under sentence of outlawry. |
| 4. | a person who refuses to be governed by the established rules or practices of any group; rebel; nonconformist: one of the outlaws of country music. |
| 5. | Chiefly Western U.S.
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| 6. | to make unlawful or illegal: The Eighteenth Amendment outlawed the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating beverages in the U.S. |
| 7. | to deprive of thebenefits and protection of the law: Members of guerrilla bands who refused to surrender were outlawed. |
| 8. | to prohibit: to outlaw smoking in a theater. |
| 9. | to remove from legal jurisdiction; deprive of legal force. |
| 10. | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of an outlaw. |
| out·law (out'lô') n.
[Middle English outlaue, from Old English ūtlaga, from Old Norse ūtlagi, from ūtlagr, outlawed, banished : ūt, out; see ud- in Indo-European roots + lög, law; see legh- in Indo-European roots.] out'law' adj. Word History: The word outlaw brings to mind the cattle rustlers and gunslingers of the Wild West, but it comes to us from a much earlier time, when guns were not yet invented but cattle stealing was. Outlaw can be traced back to the Old Norse word ūtlagr, "outlawed, banished," made up of ūt, "out," and lög, "law." An ūtlagi (derived from ūtlagr) was someone outside the protection of the law. The Scandinavians, who invaded and settled in England during the 8th through the 11th century, gave us the Old English word ūtlaga, which designated someone who because of criminal acts had to give up his property to the crown and could be killed without recrimination. The legal status of the outlaw became less severe over the course of the Middle Ages. However, the looser use of the word to designate criminals in general, which arose in Middle English, lives on in tales of the Wild West. |
"[G]if he man to deaðe gefylle, beo he þonne utlah" ["Laws of Edward & Guthrum," c.924]The verb is from O.E. utlagian. Meaning "one living a lawless life" is first recorded 1880.
