Outing

Outing

Noun · /ˈaʊt.ɪŋ/

Definition

A short trip or excursion, especially for leisure or pleasure; a brief journey away from home or the usual place; the act of revealing that a person is homosexual without their consent; (sport) a competitive event or appearance.

Origin

From out + the verbal noun suffix -ing. The excursion sense deriving from the idea of going out — making an outing being making a journey out. The word appearing in English from the eighteenth century in the leisure excursion sense: a family outing, a day outing to the seaside. The political/social sense — outing someone, the practice of revealing a person's sexual orientation without their consent — emerging as a distinct meaning in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a contested tactic in LGBTQ+ politics. The sporting sense — her first outing of the season, the team's best outing — being established in American and British sports journalism.