to out-Osborne

[tkacka15]

"McDonnell, making his first appearance on the frontbench after 20 years in parliament, startled MPs by admitting he was embarrassed that he had reversed his two-week-old plan to tell Labour MPs to vote for Osborne’s charter for budget responsibility. He confessed: “I was trying to out-Osborne Osborne.”" [From The Guardian.]

Is "out-Osborne" a verb in “I was trying to out-Osborne Osborne”? What does it exactly mean in such a context?

Thank you.

 

[Tdol]

He was trying to outmanoeuvre Osborne by taking a stronger line than him, but one that is similar to Osborne's way of thinking. It is used as a verb here.

 

[tkacka15]

He was trying to outmanoeuvre Osborne by taking a stronger line than him, but one that is similar to Osborne's way of thinking. It is used as a verb here.

Thank you, Tdol, for your excellent reply.

Can I understand the verb "to out-Osborne" as "to outfox"?

 

[Tdol]

Sort of- McDonnel is left-wing and Osborne right, so out-Osborning Osborne would involve taking a more right-wing policy that the one Osborne was proposing. You could outfox him with a clever left-wing policy, but that would not out-Osborne him. It involves beating him at his own game.