Meanings
- uncountableThe time at night at which artificial lights are to be turned off, a curfew or bedtime.
- uncountableThe prescribed bedtime for persons living in a boarding school or staying in a hospital.
We were all expected to be in bed by lights-out.
- euphemisticidiomaticuncountableSomething hopeless, over; unconsciousness.
It's gonna be lights out for you, pal!
2 more examples
Hardy landed a picture perfect right uppercut square on Padilla's jaw. It was lights out for the formerly undefeated pugilist.
1990 Feb, “Sparring in the Financial Markets”, in Black Enterprise, volume 20, number 7, page 162Then, come November, the hunters are sitting there waiting for the unsuspecting gullible deer, and then it's lights out for the deer.
2010, “A Memo from the devil”, in Catholic Bible 101, archived from the original on 31 Jan 2010 - idiomaticuncountablehobbiesA decisive play.
No one could really stop him in the second half and he was lights-out in OHL playoffs.
2017 July 17, Mike G. Morreale, “'Super Buddies' McLeod, Bastian look to make mark with Devils”, in NHL.com
- not comparablebusinessDone or performed in the dark because of a fully automated working environment. Often describes night shift or third shift work.
lights-out production
2 more examples
lights-out manufacturing
Their night shift is lights-out production. Their day shift handles tooling, setup, and staging to make sure that everything is ready for the next lights-out run.
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Czech večerka, večerka
- večerkathe time at night at which artificial lights are to be turned off, a curfew or bedtime
- večerkathe prescribed bedtime for persons living in a boarding school or staying in a hospital
French couvre-feu
- couvre-feuthe time at night at which artificial lights are to be turned off, a curfew or bedtime
Hungarian villanyoltás, lámpaoltás
- villanyoltásthe time at night at which artificial lights are to be turned off, a curfew or bedtime
- lámpaoltásthe time at night at which artificial lights are to be turned off, a curfew or bedtime
- villanyoltásthe prescribed bedtime for persons living in a boarding school or staying in a hospital
- lámpaoltásthe prescribed bedtime for persons living in a boarding school or staying in a hospital
Russian отбой, отбой
- отбой (otboj)the time at night at which artificial lights are to be turned off, a curfew or bedtime
- отбой (otboj)the prescribed bedtime for persons living in a boarding school or staying in a hospital
Cite this entry
lights-out. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lights-out
“lights-out.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lights-out. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lights-out,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lights-out.
Source: lights-out on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.