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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1965 (SND Vol. VI).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

OUTGATE, n., adv. Also -gait, oot-, -gaet; -git, utgjet (Sh.). [′utget]

I. n. 1. A way out, an exit, egress (Sc. 1710 T. Ruddiman Gl. to Douglas Aeneis; Gall. 1890 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 58; Rxb. 1927 E. C. Smith Braid Haaick 16); outlet, lit. and fig., scope, opportunity (Sh. 1964).Rxb. 1704 R. Wilson Hist. Hawick (1825) 339:
With the Common Pasturage, fre Ish and Entry, Return and Outgate.Ayr. 1822 Galt Provost xlvii.:
No outgate in the army for roving and idle spirits.Ayr. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize iii.:
To discover if there was no other entrance or outgate to the house.Sc. 1865 Carlyle Frederick xviii. ii.:
Moldau Valley . . . making, on its outgate at the northern end of Prag, one big loop.Sh. 1900 Manson's Almanac 125:
He gaed to Lerrick ta ship for Greenland. But dere wis nae ootgit for men dat year.Sc. 1926 Scots Mag. (March) 431:
Gang roun' by, Tam, an' see gin there's ony ootgate ahint.

†2. Fig. A way of deliverance or escape, esp. from a moral or spiritual problem, an answer to a dilemma, common in early 18th-c. theological writers.Sc. 1700 T. Boston Memoirs (1852) VII. 136:
I was now tossed with scruples and doubts about my marriage: I thought on it, but found no outgate.Sc. 1705 R. Wodrow Early Letters (S.H.S.) 278:
I hope the worst is by, and I trust in God that the outgate is begun.Sc. 1732 Six Saints (Fleming 1901) II. 81:
We are so little resolute in looking to the Lord only for relief and outgate.Sc. 1789 Poems on Spiritual Subjects 69:
The way of a sinner's outgate from sore convictions.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xlvii.:
Lady Robertland, whilk got six sure outgates of grace.Sc. 1849 M. Oliphant M. Maitland xviii.:
It is an ill thing to despair while there is any outgate.Sc. 1871 P. H. Waddell Psalms lxviii. 20:
Wi' him that's baith Lord an' Laird, are the outgate frae death till his peopil.

3. Market, sale, means of disposal of merchandise (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl., Sh. 1964).Cld. 1880 Jam.:
There's aye a ready out-gate for a' the claith I can mak.Sh. 1949 J. Gray Lowrie 105:
We wid come ashore wi' a boatload o' turbot, an' dey wir nae ootgaet fur dem.

†4. A going-about outside, esp. in order to show oneself off, a gadding about.Ayr. 1822 Galt Provost ix.:
Jeanie was fonder of ootgait and blether in the causey than was discreet.Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie xxviii.:
She was a fine leddy — maybe a wee that dressy and fond o' outgait.

†II. adv. Outside. Cf. Ingate, II.Kcb. 1898 Crockett Standard Bearer xxxiv.:
May they burn back and front, ingate and outgate.