utter

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   express audibly

   utter sounds (not necessarily words)

2. 2
   verb

   put into circulation

   utter counterfeit currency

3. 3
   adj

   To the furthest or most extreme extent; absolute, complete, total, unconditional.

   utter bliss    utter darkness    utter ruin

4. 4
   adj

   Of a substance: pure, unmixed.

   Two cups of utter silver wrought and rough with imagery / I give you, which my father took from wracked Arisbe's hold; […]

5. 5
   adj

   Of decisions, replies, etc.: made in an unconditional or unqualified manner; decisive, definite.

   There could not then be any other eſtimate made of the loſs VValler ſuſtain'd, than by the not purſuing the viſible advantage he had, and by the utter refuſal of the Auxiliary Regiments of London and Kent, to march farther; […]

6. 6
   adj

   Further out than another thing; being the exterior or outer part of something; outer, outward; also, extremely remote.

   at the utter extremities of

7. 7
   adj

   Preceding all others; original.

   And although it [Persia] has ſince then been ruined and reigned ouer by Princes of many Nations, yet they haue neuer altered the Dialect from its vtter ſence, at this day being cald Pharſee: […]

8. 8
   adj

   Succeeding all others; final, last, ultimate.

   Our vtter houre is come alas, fell deſtinies death hath brought.

Etymology

PIE word *úd From Middle English outren, utteren (“to display for sale; to market; to sell; to say, speak; to put into words, express, tell; to make known, reveal”), partly: * from outre, utter (adjective, adverb) (see etymology 1 and etymology 3) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs); and * from Middle Dutch uteren (“to announce, make known”) (modern Dutch uiteren); or from Middle Low German üteren, ütern (“to demonstrate, show; to speak; to sell; etc.”) (modern Low German ütern), from Old Dutch or Old Saxon ūtan, probably from Proto-West Germanic *ūtanā (“from outside or without;…