utter

Etymology 1

From Middle English utter, from out (adjective) and Old English ūtera, comparative of ūt (“out”). Compare outer.

adj

1. (now poetic, literary) Outer; furthest out, most remote.
2. (obsolete) Outward.
3. Absolute, unconditional, total, complete.
   utter ruin; utter darkness
   They […] are utter strangers to all those anxious […]thoughts which […]disquiet mankind. 1708, Francis Atterbury, Fourteen Sermons Preach'd on Several Occasions, Preface
   His eyes could not penetrate the darkness even to the distinguishing of his hand before his face, while the banths, he knew, could see quite well, though absence of light were utter. 1920, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Thuvia, Maiden of Mars, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008

Etymology 2

From Middle English utter, partly from utter (adjective, adverb), partly from Middle Dutch uteren.

verb

1. (transitive) To produce (speech or other sounds) with one's voice.
   Don't you utter another word!
   […] he made no other reply, for some time, than lifting up his eyes, clasping his hands, and uttering a hollow groan. 1748, Tobias Smollett, chapter 50, in The Adventures of Roderick Random, volume 2, London: J. Osborn, page 156
   I wanted to look up velleity and quotidian and memorize the fuckers for all time, spell them, learn them, pronounce them syllable by syllable—vocalize, phonate, utter the sounds, say the words for all they're worth. 1997, Don DeLillo, Underworld: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Scribner Classics, page 543
2. (transitive) To reveal or express (an idea, thought, desire, etc.) with speech.
   Each had been full of thoughts which neither of them could begin to utter. 1871, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, Volume 4, Part 2, Book 8, Chapter 83, p. 323
   “Your master,” he declared, “has uttered a damnable lie about a dead friend of mine.” 1959, Muriel Spark, “Memento Mori”, in Time, New York, published 1964, Chapter, p. 213
   “Don’t worry about me,” he uttered with minimum lip movement. 1995, Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, Part 11, p. 528
3. (transitive, figurative) To produce (a noise) (of an inanimate object).
   Sally's car uttered a hideous shriek when she applied the brakes.
4. (transitive, obsolete) To spit or blow (something) out of one's mouth.
   Four little winged marble boys used to play their virgin fancies, spouting out ever fresh streams from their innocent-wanton lips, in the square of Lincoln’s-inn […] Are the stiff-wigged living figures, that still flitter and chatter about that area, less gothic in appearance? or, is the splutter of their hot rhetoric one half so refreshing and innocent, as the little cool playful streams those exploded cherubs uttered? 1821 September, Charles Lamb, “The Old Benchers of the Inner Temple”, in The London Magazine, volume 4, number 21, page 280
5. (transitive, obsolete) To emit or give off (breath).
   […] now the King forsakes The Campe, he must maintaine luxurious mouthes, 1629, William Davenant, The Tragedy of Albovine, King of the Lombards, London: R. Moore, act I, scene 1
6. (transitive, archaic) To shed (a tear or tears).
   […] a mythological matron, in a classical helmet, uttering a tear at a rustic cross bound in blue and white ribbons and inscribed TO THE FALLEN—1912, 1928, Robert Byron, chapter 6, in The Station: Travels to the Holy Mountain of Greece, Bloomsbury, published 2010
7. (transitive, obsolete) To offer (something) for sale; to sell.
8. (transitive, law) To put (currency) into circulation.
   1564, Proclamation of Elizabeth I of England dated November, 1564, London: Richard Jugge and John Cawood, 1565, […] there are […] forrayne peeces of golde, of the like quantitie and fashion (although of lesse value) lyke to an Englyshe Angell, brought hyther, and here vttered and payde for ten shyllynges of syluer, beyng for they lacke of wayght, and for the basenesse of the allay, not worth. vii. shillinges, to the great deceite and losse of the subiectes of this her Realme:
   1735, Jonathan Swift, Drapier’s Letters, Letter 3, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, Dublin: George Faulkner, Volume 4, p. 123, There is nothing remaining to preserve us from Ruin, but that the whole Kingdom should continue in a firm determinate Resolution never to receive or utter this FATAL Coin:
   1842, cited in Supplement to The Jurist, containing a Digest of All the Reported Cases […] published during the year 1842, p. 49, If two persons jointly prepare counterfeit coin, and then utter it in different shops, apart from each other, but in concert, and intending to share the proceeds, the utterings of each are the joint utterings of both, and they may be convicted jointly.
   A person shall not utter a postage stamp knowing it to be forged. 1914, Section 87G(2), Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)
   1948, 18 U.S. Code § 486, Uttering coins of gold, silver or other metal Whoever, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or attempts to utter or pass, any coins of gold or silver or other metal, or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in the resemblance of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or of original design, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To show (something that has been hidden); to reveal the identity of (someone).
10. (transitive, obsolete) To send or put (something) out.
    1548, Edward Hall, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre [and] Yorke, London: Richard Grafton, Henry VI, year 37, As fier beyng enclosed in a strayte place, wil by force vtter his flamme […]
11. (transitive, law) To commit the crime of uttering (knowingly presenting forged documentation).
    A man named Edward Agar was convicted in October 1855 of uttering a forged cheque, and sentenced to be transported for life. 1875, George Hayter Chubb, Protection from fire and thieves including the construction of locks, safes, strong-rooms, and fireproof buildings : burglary, and the means of preventing it; fire, its detection, prevention, and extinction; etc. : also a complete list of patents for locks and safes, page 23