outskirt

[out-skurt]

noun

Often outskirts. the outlying district or region, as of a city, metropolitan area, or the like: to live on the outskirts of town; a sparsely populated outskirt.
Usually outskirts. the border or fringes of a specified quality, condition, or the like: the outskirts of respectability.

Origin of outskirt

First recorded in 1590–1600; out- + skirt

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

It stood at a furlong's distance from the house, on the outskirt of the town.
Robert Falconer
George MacDonald
Again we threaded a narrow turning: here was an outskirt of the town.
Charles Auchester, Volume 1 of 2
Elizabeth Sheppard
My old Lavao friend gets hold of me and walks me to outskirt.
Adventures in New Guinea
James Chalmers
His activity of mind and body at this outskirt of civilization was wonderful.
The Personal Life Of David Livingstone
William Garden Blaikie
Young Donald, in his homespun tartan, stood on the outskirt of the little crowd that surrounded her, listening.
Stories from the Ballads
Mary MacGregor

"outer border," 1590s, from out + skirt (n.). Now only in plural, outskirts. Originally in Spenser.