Other forms: outflanked, outflanking
To outflank is to go round the side of an enemy position. Outflank the defenders, outflanked on the left, try to outflank them.
It works because a line defends what it faces and not what is beside it, which is why an outflanked force usually has to retreat rather than fight. The figurative use is common in politics — outflank an opponent by taking their ground.
1verboutflankTo go round the side of an enemy position.
“The general sent his cavalry through the forest to outflank the enemy.”
outflank is a manoeuvre.
Proto-Indo-European
*kleng- — to bend
Proto-Germanic
*hlankaz — flexible, sleek, bendsome
Proto-West Germanic
*hlanku — bend, curve, hip, flank
Frankish
*hlanca
Old French
flanc
Old English
flanc — flank
Middle English
flanc
English
flank
English, today
outflank
From out- + flank. flank comes from Late Middle English flanc, from Late Old English flanc (“flank”), from Old French flanc, of gem - origin, probably Frankish hlanca, from Proto-West Germanic hlanku (“bend, curve, hip, flank”), from Proto-Germanic hlankaz (“flexible, sleek, bendsome”), from Proto-Indo-European kleng- (“to bend”). Akin to Old High German hlanca (“loin”), Middle Low German lanke (“hip joint”) (German lenken (“to bend, turn, lead”)), Old English hlanc (“loose, slender, flaccid, lank”). More at lank.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA