out of question

English

Prepositional phrase

out of question

1. (obsolete) Unquestionably, without question, certainly.
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
     Though, I confess, much like the character
     But out of question, ’tis Maria's hand.

   • 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book I, page 17:

     And out of question the cherfull help that may be in mariage toward sanctity of life, is the purest and so the noblest end of that contract […]

   • 1772, Richard Hurd, letter addressed to Edward Gibbon dated 29 August, 1772, in Miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon, London: A. Strahan et al., p. 462,^[1]

     […] the lustre of his hero’s fame, and the real power, which, out of question, he reserved to himself, would make us forget or overlook Cyaxares.

2. (obsolete) Unquestionable, beyond question, certain.
   • 1614, Walter Ralegh [i.e., Walter Raleigh], chapter 2, in The Historie of the World […], London: […] William Stansby for Walter Burre, […], →OCLC, 2nd book, §. 6, page 242:

     Of King Vaphres and Necho it is out of question, that neither of them was the great King Sesostris.

   • 1727, Daniel Defoe, chapter 8, in An Essay on the History and Reality of Apparitions‎^[2], London, page 130:

     So when [Jesus] came walking upon the Sea to his Disciples, and they were so frighted that they cried out, believing that they had seen a Spirit; it must be out of Question that there were such things, and that they, the Disciples, had heard of them […]

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with out of the question.