outsize

English

Etymology

From out- +‎ size.

Noun

outsize (plural outsizes)

1. an unusually large garment size

Synonyms

• (initialism) OS

Adjective

outsize (not comparable)

1. of an unusually large size [from the later 19th c.]
   • 1958, P. G. Wodehouse, The Fat of the Land, in 'A Few Quick Ones', Everyman, London: 2009, p 11.

     ...the contents of the kitty amounted to well over a hundred pounds. And it was generally recognized that this impressive sum must inevitably go to the lucky stiff who drew the name of Lord Blicester, for while all the starters were portly, having long let their waist-lines go, not one of them could be considered in the class of Freddie's outsize uncle.

2. unintuitively or unexpectedly large.

   Small changes in initial conditions can have an outsize effect on the course of events.

   • 2019 August 7, Marissa Brostoff, Noah Kulwin, “The Right Kind of Continuity”, in Jewish Currents‎^[1]:

     [Leslie] Wexner is among a small number of Jewish community megadonors, billionaires who provide an outsize and growing proportion of funding for communal organizations and to a large extent determine what those organizations look like.

Synonyms

• outsized

Verb

outsize (third-person singular simple present outsizes, present participle outsizing, simple past and past participle outsized)

1. to exceed in size
   • 2005, Los Angeles Times‎^[2], headline, September 25, 2005:

     Mega-ship to outsize seas' reigning Queen.