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outrigger

[out-rig-er]
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noun
  1. a framework extended outboard from the side of a boat, especially, as in South Pacific canoes, supporting a float that gives stability.
  2. a bracket extending outward from the side of a racing shell, to support an oarlock.
  3. the shell itself.
  4. a spar rigged out from a ship's rail or the like, as for extending a sail.
  5. a long, flexible rod, attached to a fishing boat near the stern, along which a fishing line may be threaded to keep it clear of the boat's wake when trolling.
  6. a structure extending outward from a vehicle, vessel, or aircraft to increase stability or provide support for something.
  7. a projecting beam, as for supporting a hoisting tackle.
  8. a horizontal steel beam extending the base of a crane.
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Origin of outrigger

First recorded in 1740–50; out- + rig + -er1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for outrigger

Historical Examples

  • About seventy outrigger boats of all sizes lie on the beach.

    Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific

    Felix Speiser

  • Single canoes are not so easily separated from their outrigger.

    Man on the Ocean

    R.M. Ballantyne

  • The larger sort do not require what we may call the outrigger rowlocks.

    Man on the Ocean

    R.M. Ballantyne

  • Of the two canoes, one is smaller than the other, and the smaller serves by way of an outrigger.

    Man on the Ocean

    R.M. Ballantyne

  • It has an outrigger; and outrigger, mast, and yard are of bamboo.

    Man on the Ocean

    R.M. Ballantyne

British Dictionary definitions for outrigger

outrigger

noun
  1. a framework for supporting a pontoon outside and parallel to the hull of a boat to provide stability
  2. a boat equipped with such a framework, esp one of the canoes of the South Pacific
  3. any projecting framework attached to a boat, aircraft, building, etc, to act as a support
  4. rowing another name for rigger (def. 2)
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Word Origin

C18: from out- + rig 1 + -er 1; perhaps influenced by archaic outligger outlier
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for outrigger

n.

device used in Pacific and Indian oceans to stabilize canoes, 1748, altered (by influence of rig) from outligger (late 15c.) "a spar projecting from a vessel," probably from the same root as Dutch uitlegger, literally "out-lyer."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper