1. outline - Noun
2. outline - Verb
The line which marks the outer limits of an object or figure; the exterior line or edge; contour.
In art: A line drawn by pencil, pen, graver, or the like, by which the boundary of a figure is indicated.
A sketch composed of such lines; the delineation of a figure without shading.
Fig.: A sketch of any scheme; a preliminary or general indication of a plan, system, course of thought, etc.; as, the outline of a speech.
To draw the outline of.
Fig.: To sketch out or indicate as by an outline; as, to outline an argument or a campaign.
Source: Webster's dictionaryAnimals outline their territories with their excretions, humans outline their territories by ink excretions on paper. Robert Anton Wilson
When you love a man, he becomes more than a body. His physical limbs expand, and his outline recedes, vanishes. He is rich and sweet and right. He is part of the world, the atmosphere, the blue sky and the blue water. Gwendolyn Brooks
All your life you live so close to truth, it becomes a permanent blur in the corner of your eye, and when something nudges it into outline it is like being ambushed by a grotesque. Tom Stoppard
Therefore, to teach them [women] at least an outline of economics and law is the first requirement after giving them a general education. Figuratively speaking, it will be like providing the women of civilized society with a pocket dagger for self-protection. Fukuzawa Yukichi
The beginning of an acquaintance whether with persons or things is to get a definite outline of our ignorance. George Eliot
An English village could never be mistaken for an American one: the outline against the sky differs; a thatched cottage makes a very wavy line on the blue above. Maria Mitchell