outburst

Etymology

It is formed from English out- + burst,^[2][3][4][5] after the verb burst out and the older verb outburst.^[2][6] That verb is recorded from Old English, in Ælfric's “Lives of Saints”,^[2] and in Middle English as outbresten, from bresten (“to burst”).^[7][6] Etymonline gives the Old English verb as utaberstan.^[5] The OED compares Middle Dutch utebersten, Middle Low German ūtbersten and Old High German ūzbrestan.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An outbreak of violence or feeling; an angry utterance: 1657, in John Trapp's commentary on Job.^[2][6] Etymonline dates the noun to the 1650s,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1650–1660.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun was at first used of outbreaks of feeling and of violent speech.^[2] From 1698 it was also a geological term for the outcrop of a stratum of rock, now rare,^[2] a sense the English Dialect Dictionary recorded in Northumberland, where an outburst was also the sudden escape of a large volume of gas in a coal mine.^[8] From 1839 it was used of a gush of water, gas or lava or a volcanic eruption.^[2] From 1859 it was used in astronomy of a sudden release of light or energy from the sun or a star.^[2] The verb outburst, to burst out, survives only as a rare word.^[3][2]

Timeline

• Old English – verb, to burst out.^[2]
• 1657 – noun, an outbreak of violence or feeling.^[2][6]
• 1698 – an outcrop of rock (now rare).^[2]
• 1839 – an outpouring of water, gas or lava.^[2]
• 1859 – in astronomy, a sudden release of light or energy from a star.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sudden, violent expression of emotion: Her outburst at the meeting startled everyone..^[9][6][2]
2. A sudden burst of activity or growth; an eruption or explosion.^[9][6]
3. (astronomy) A sudden release of light or energy from the sun or a star.^[2]

Related words

• burst
• inburst

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins