outlaw: Meaning and Definition of
out•law
Pronunciation: (out'lô"), [key]
— n.
- a lawless person or habitual criminal, esp. one who is a fugitive from the law.
- a person, group, or thing excluded from the benefits and protection of the law.
- a person under sentence of outlawry.
- a person who refuses to be governed by the established rules or practices of any group; rebel; nonconformist: one of the outlaws of country music.
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- a horse that cannot be broken; a mean, intractable horse.
- any rogue animal.
—v.t.
- to make unlawful or illegal: The Eighteenth Amendment outlawed the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating beverages in the U.S.
- to deprive of thebenefits and protection of the law: Members of guerrilla bands who refused to surrender were outlawed.
- to prohibit: to outlaw smoking in a theater.
- to remove from legal jurisdiction; deprive of legal force.
—adj.
- of, pertaining to, or characteristic of an outlaw.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.