outstrip, divvy sth up, Gargantua

“One of the great misconceptions about the China-Africa business relationship is that there’s some smoke-filled room in Beijing where all the [state-owned enterprises] sit around and divvy up the projects.” -- Aubrey Hruby, co-founder of the Africa Expert Network




on Page 59: " ... favourite area for the ancestor of the modern tourist, he found the demands of visitors outstripping the available accommodation at Buxton and Matlock"

India’s Growth Outstrips Crops

By SOMINI SENGUPTA 24 minutes ago

India’s supply of arable land is second only to that of the U.S., but it must buy some foods on international markets, exacerbating a global food crisis.

Beauty and the Geek

Jun 19th 2008 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition

A new bill proposes more visas be allocated to fashion models

IT'S not often that fashion models are paired with IT workers, except in the lurid fantasies of computer geeks. But because of a decision made back in 1990 they must compete for the same over-subscribed H-1B, a temporary work visa for specialised occupations. Until 2004, when the government lowered the cap on the number of H-1Bs it issued, it didn't matter so much. But now demand has far outstripped the limited number of visas available, and many foreign models are being denied the chance to sashay down America's catwalks.

Flying Off the Shelves

Sony plans to ship 6 million PS3s in the fiscal year ending in March, but right now the demand for the game consoles seems to be outstripping supply. In big cities across Japan, several retailers said they were in the dark about how the initial 100,000 PS3s would be divvied up among stores. Within hours of their release, the consoles had sold out.

Postal scam divvied up savings

Investigators looking into abuse of a postal discount system say the perpetrators figured out in advance how to divvy up the 240 million yen the scam would produce in savings, sources said Friday.(April 18) [more]

Gargantua

The giant hero of a series of popular burlesque romances featuring well-known characters from the Arthurian legends, usually referred to collectively as Les Chroniques gargantuines and later included in the Bibliothèque Bleue. The version printed in 1532 seems to have prompted Rabelais to invent Pantagruel, son of Gargantua, then to tell his own version of the story of Gargantua [see Pantagruel and Gargantua]. He at first uses some of the traditional motifs, but soon outstrips the scope of his model even at the narrative level; he also adds multiple layers of other materials (e.g. from classical antiquity and the Bible), and turns the work into a vehicle for contemporary satire.

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Description: Gargantua, a lithography by Honoré Daumier

Gargantua

divvy sth up phrasal verb [M] MAINLY US INFORMAL

to share something between a number of people:

They haven't yet decided how to divvy up the proceeds from the sale.

divvy 

noun [C] (ALSO div) UK INFORMAL

a stupid person:

Don't be such a divvy!

outstrip
verb [T] -pp- ━━ vt. 追越す; まさる.
to be or become greater in amount, degree or success than something or someone:
The demand for firewood now far outstrips supply.