Word: outgo Part of Speech: noun Etymology: PIE word *úd The verb is derived from Middle English outgon (“to go out, depart, leave; to come out, emerge; to escape; to protrude; of a sword: to be drawn; to emanate from (a place); to accompany”), from Old English ūtgān (“to go out”), Proto-West Germanic *ūtgān (“to go out”), equivalent to out- + go. See also go out. Compare Middle English outwenden (“to go out, depart, leave; to escape; to be emitted, fly out from; of a weapon: to be drawn”), which, like modern outgo, had the past tense and past participle form outwent. The noun is derived from modern English out- (prefix meaning ‘away from; toward the outside of’) + go. Sense 1 (“cost, expenditure, or outlay”) was probably modelled on income. Cognates * Scots outgae * West Frisian útgean * Dutch uitgaan * German Low German utgahn * German ausgehen * Swedish utgå Pronunciation: /ˈaʊtɡəʊ/, /ˈaʊtˌɡoʊ/ 1. A cost, expenditure, or outlay. Labels: countable Example: My farm outgoes for the first season were, for implements, seed, work, &c., $14 72½. Example: The secret of success lies never in the amount of money, but in the relation of income to outgo; as if, after expense has been fixed at a certain point, then new and steady rills of income, though never so small, being added, wealth begins. 2. The act or process of going out; (countable) an instance of this; an outgoing. Labels: uncountable Example: Once again, after establishing an equally obvious fact, I succeeded in wringing from her the reluctant admission, "It depends," but she was so shattered by the bulk and force of this outgo, so fearful that in some way she had imperiled her life or reputation, so anxious concerning the effect that her unwilling testimony might have upon unborn generations, that she was of no real service the rest of the day. Example: The stately Votaress, with her towering funnels lost in the upper night, was running well inshore under a point, wrapped in a world-wide silence broken only by the placid outgo of her own vast breath, the soft rush of her torrential footsteps far below, and the answering rustle of the nearer shore. 3. The means by which something flows or goes out; an outlet. Labels: archaic, countable, obsolete Example: The great Salt Lake of Utah is its principal body of water, and this has no visible outgo, though richly fed from various quarters. Example: Of course the fact is not overlooked that the outgos of main drain traps are not usually ventilated against syphonage, but they afford an excellent example of a trap on a nearly horizontal pipe. 4. A (quantity of a) substance or thing that has flowed out; an outflow. Labels: archaic, obsolete, rare, uncountable Example: It cannot be doubted that the same persons are here meant as are spoken of in the preceding chapter, for their scorn was the outgo of the same frivolous mind which is there said to distinguish them. Example: In these experiments it is necessary to take account not only of the food eaten, but of the actual amount of this food which is used by the body. […] Estimates of the solids, liquids, and gases given off from his body must be obtained, for to carry out the experiment an exact balance must be made between the income and the outgo.