out

alternative Northumbria oot · alternative obsolete oute

1. not comparableAway from the inside or centre.

   The magician tapped the hat, and a rabbit jumped out.

   1 more example

   There was a hole in the bucket, and all the water leaked out.

2. not comparableAway from, or at a distance from, some point of reference or focus.

   He lives out in Australia.

   4 more examples

   Once they had landed, the commandos quickly spread out along the beach.

   For six hours the tide flows out, then for six hours it flows in.

   It's three miles out to the island.

   The Joneses don't live here any more. They moved out three months ago.

   1. not comparableSpecifically, away from home or one's usual place.

      Let’s eat out tonight

   2. not comparableAway from the doer, especially vigorously.

      hit out, lash out, speak out, shout out, yell out

3. informalnot comparableAway, or at a distance, in time (relative to, and usually before, a stated event, or into the future) (often preceded by a stated time period and followed by "from" or "to")

   The election is a long way out.

   2 more examples

   Five weeks out from the passage of the law, something has to change.

   Work may shift out as much as two weeks.

4. not comparableOutside; not indoors.

   It's cold out.

   1 more example

   Last night we slept out under the stars.

5. not comparablehobbiesOf the ball or other playing implement, so as to pass or be situated beyond the bounds of the playing area.

   The football caught the edge of the line but then bounced out.

6. not comparableInto a state of non-operation or non-existence.

   Put the fire out.

   2 more examples

   Turn the lights out.

   I painted out that nasty mark on the wall.

7. not comparableTo the end; completely; so that nothing remains.

   write out

   4 more examples

   I haven’t finished. Hear me out.

   Sorry love, we've got no bananas. We've sold out.

   Deceitful men shall not live out half their days.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalm 4:23

   I'm all cried out / You took a whole lot of loving for a handful of nothing

   1984, "All cried out", song by English singer-songwriter Alison Moyet

   1. not comparableShows that an activity has been completed to the point of exhaustion.

      After hours at the party, she was all danced out.

8. not comparableUsed to intensify or emphasize.

   The place was all decked out for the holidays.

9. not comparableInto a state of existence or visibility.

   The sun has brought the flowers out.

   1 more example

   The singer is bringing out a new album next month.

   1. not comparableusuallymoon; stars; moon; starsSo as to be visible in the sky, and not covered by clouds, fog, etc.

      The sun came out after the rain, and we saw a rainbow.

10. not comparableball gamesSo as to be disqualified from playing further by some action of a member of the opposing team (such as being stumped in cricket or a forced out in baseball).

    Wilson was bowled out for five runs.

    4 more examples

    First ball hit me on the 'and, second 'ad me on the knee, the third was in my eye, the fourth bowled me out.

    1876, The School newspaper Vol. [2 issues of vols. 31 and 32]., page 66

    Hayes batted for Reed and grounded out, Murray unassisted.

    1984, Official Baseball Guide, page 211

    So, first guy, Larry strikes him out, good fastball in on his hands.

    2007, Philip R. Craig, William G. Tapply, Third Strike: A Brady Coyne/J. W. Jackson Mystery, page 27

    The striking batter is bowled out when the wicket is broken with the bowler's delivery. A batter is bowled out whether or not the ball is touched or deflected into the stumps by the batter.

    2010, Mark Butcher, Paul Abraham, Learn to Play Cricket: Teach Yourself, page A-65

alternative Northumbria oot · alternative obsolete oute

1. informalproscribedsometimesFrom the inside to the outside of; out of.First known use 14th c.

   throw it out the window; get it out your mind

   4 more examples

   We are gonna get evicted. —If your fat butt fits out the door, that is.

   Can you, when you have pushed out your gates the very defender of them, and in a violent popular ignorance given your enemy your shield, think to front his revenges with the easy groans of old women, the virginal palms of your daughters, or with the palsied intercession of such a decayed dotant as you seem to be?

   c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

   Thy roselips and full blue eyes / Take the heart from out my breast.

   1830, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Adeline

   After she'd made her single cup of coffee she sat looking out the window into the slushy, halficy backyard and dialed Tony's number on Staten Island.

   2012, Thomas Gifford, Woman in the Window

   Synonyms: through

plural outs · alternative Northumbria oot · alternative obsolete oute

1. A means of exit, escape, reprieve, etc.

   What's my out if things go wrong?

   2 more examples

   They wrote the law to give those organizations an out.

   You might phrase it like this, for example: “I’ve noticed you’ve been making some healthier choices. I’ve been thinking about starting a GLP-1, and I’m wondering if you’ve thought about it.” That gives the other person an out—they can easily brush off or shut down the conversation if they’d rather not get into it.

   2026 January 29, Angela Haupt, “Can I Ask Someone if They’re on Ozempic?”, in TIME, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2026

2. ball gamesA state in which a member of the batting team is removed from play due to the application of various rules of the game such as striking out, hitting a fly ball which is caught by the fielding team before bouncing, etc.

   The first time I saw Amity we were in front of her house playing work-up, a baseball variation where you move from position to position by outs until you get to bat.

   2014, Tom Bentley, Flowering: And Other Stories

3. ball gamesA dismissal; a state in which a member of the batting team finishes his turn at bat, due to the application of various rules of the game, such as the bowler knocking over the batsman's wicket with the ball.
4. card gamesA card which can make a hand a winner.

   As a beginner, when you are in a hand, you should practice counting your outs, or those live cards left in the deck that can improve your hand.

   2005, Alison M. Pendergast, Play Winning Poker in No Time, page 57

   1 more example

   If he did have a bigger ace, I still had at least six outs — the case ace, two nines, and three tens. I could also have more outs if he held anything less than A-K.

   2006, David Apostolico, Lessons from the Professional Poker Tour, page 21

5. datedA trip out; an outing.

   Us London lawyers don't often get an out; and when we do, we like to make the most of it, you know.

   1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC

6. in pluralOne who, or that which, is out; especially, one who is out of office.

   This memoir has nothing to do with the question between the ins and the outs; it is intended neither to support nor to assail the administration; it is general in its views upon a general and national subject; […]

   1827, Benjamin Chew, A Sketch of the Politics, Relations, and Statistics, of the Western World, page 192

   Antonyms: in

7. A place or space outside of something; a nook or corner; an angle projecting outward; an open space.
8. datedmediaA word or words omitted by the compositor in setting up copy; an omission.
9. colloquialbroadcastingAn outtake.

   It's an interesting film. I've always felt that he made it out of our outs [outtakes]: which was like he was trying to prove something.

   2015, Keith Beattie, Trent Griffiths, D. A. Pennebaker: Interviews

10. obsoleteA dram glass.

    […] one gentleman called to the waiter, 'Bring me a quartern of gin and two outs (glasses), for me and this chap to drink Mullens' health.'

    1873, Godfrey Holden Pike, Byeways of two cities, page 226

present singular third person outs · participle present outing · participle past outed · past outed · alternative Northumbria oot · alternative obsolete oute

1. transitiveTo eject; to expel.

   a king outed of his country

   1689, John Selden, Table Talk

   3 more examples

   The French have been outed from their holds.

   1674, Peter Heylin, Cosmographie in four bookes

   "I outed myself for life that night. I can put up a show fight and exhibition bout, but I'm done for the real thing."

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

   Jimmie and Charlie were accepted, but Robbie [...] couldn’t get away with his glass eye, and the other two were also outed.

   1933, Frank Clune, Try Anything Once, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 142

2. intransitiveTo come or go out; to get out or away; to become public, revealed, or apparent.

   Truth will out.

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]

   3 more examples

   In which Argument he whose courage can serve him to give the first onset, must look for two severall oppositions: the one from those who having sworn themselves to long custom and the letter of the Text, will not out of the road: the other from those whose grosse and vulgar apprehensions conceit but low of matrimoniall purposes, and in the work of male and female think they have all.

   1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce

   The second captain of the foretop outed himself in one muscular contraction.

   1960, J. E. Macdonnell, Don't Gimme the Ships, Melbourne: Horwitz Publications, page 131

   In those opening minutes City looked like a team that were not ready for Celtic's intensity. They looked a bit shocked to be involved in a fight. Class will out, though.

   2016 September 28, Tom English, “Celtic 3–3 Manchester City”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), BBC Sport

   Synonyms: come to light, crop out

3. transitiveTo reveal (a person or organization) as having a certain secret, such as a being a secret agent or undercover detective.

   2009 March 16, Maurna Desmond, "AIG Outs Counterparties" (online news article), Forbes.com.

   1 more example

   "Did Dora just offer up that advice, or were you pumping her for information?" "Shoot, I outed my informant. I'm a terrible spy."

   2017, Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content (webcomic), Number 3509: Sensitive Information

4. transitiveTo reveal (a secret).

   A Brazilian company outed the new mobile phone design.

   1 more example

   [Tom] Holland himself admitted to GQ last year that the two hadn't really wanted to go public with their dating status. A video of them making out in a car outed their relationship.

   2022 December 16, Alyssa Bailey, “Zendaya Took Tom Holland to Visit Her Old School in Oakland”, in Elle

5. transitiveTo reveal (a person) as LGBTQ+ (gay, trans, etc.).

   Trans Media Watch had recently spoken at the Leveson Inquiry about how the Sun and the Daily Mail routinely outed trans people, publishing old names and photos, for no reason other than because they could.

   2015, Juliet Jacques, Trans: A Memoir, Verso Books, →ISBN

   5 more examples

   She throws her head back and lets out a warm laugh before she continues, “After that I thought, What am I so worried about? So I began to tell more people, and the more I outed myself, the easier it got.”

   2014 July 18, Jase Peeples, “Susan Blu: Transformation of an Animation Icon”, in The Advocate

   Always in my life I knew I was different. I also accepted that in a way, but I thought I could just live out those desires in private, for myself. I also have gone out en femme for a couple of years. […] I outed myself to my sister, which was super positive and is^([sic]) now my biggest supporter (love u sis!).

   2015 December 30, Kathy, “Kathy's Favorite Photo (of Kathy!)”, in Femulate

   The Parkses were strict and narrowminded, and not knowing what to do with their recently outed bisexual teenage daughter, their obvious solution was to cut her off from her friends and keep her from leaving the house.

   2016, Molly Booth, Saving Hamlet, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, →ISBN

   As of 2018, I chair the workforce committee and lead on diversity and inclusion, including heading up a policy review on gender identity and trans inclusion, although that led me to be publicly outed as non-binary in the Sunday Times.

   2020, Jos Twist, Meg-John Barker, Kat Gupta, Benjamin Vincent, Non-Binary Lives: An Anthology of Intersecting Identities, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 116

   Like [Paul] Graham, [Peter] Thiel would attract his own fair share of controversies, including being a rare vocal Trump backer among his tech peers during the 2016 election and secretly funding a lawsuit that would lead to the demise of Gawker Media, in retaliation for the site outing him as gay nearly a decade earlier.

   2025, Karen Hao, Empire of AI, New York City: Penguin Press, →ISBN

6. To kill; to snuff out.

   "In my own case, I was beaten about the head by their wings, so we have had a remarkable exhibition of their various methods of offence." "It has been touch and go for our lives," said Lord John, gravely, "and I could not think of a more rotten sort of death than to be outed by such filthy vermin."

   1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

alternative Northumbria oot · alternative obsolete oute

1. not comparableNot inside or within a place, especially a place that someone or something was formerly inside or is customarily inside

   This building is unsafe. Keep out!

   1 more example

   I worked away cleaning the U-bend until all the gunge was out.

2. Not inside or within a place, especially a place that someone or something was formerly inside or is customarily inside:
   1. not comparableNot at home, or not at one's office or place of employment.

      I'm sorry, Mr Smith is out at the moment.

   2. not comparableNot in jail, prison, or captivity; freed from confinement.

      Sentenced to five years, he could be out in three with good behavior.

   3. not comparableNot fitted or inserted into something.

      The TV won't work with the plug out!

   4. not comparablehobbiesFalling or passing or being situated beyond the bounds of the playing area.

      I thought the ball hit the line, but the umpire said it was out.

3. Not (or no longer) acceptable or in consideration, play, availability, or operation:
   1. not comparableDismissed from play under the rules of the game.

      He bowls, Johnson pokes at it ... and ... Johnson is out! Caught behind by Ponsonby!

   2. not comparableusuallyplansDiscarded; no longer a possibility.

      Right, so that idea's out. Let's move on to the next one.

   3. not comparableNo longer acceptable or permissible.

      I've got diabetes, so cookies are right out.

   4. not comparabledevices; or facilities; devices; or facilitiesNot available; out of service.

      My wi-fi is out.

      1 more example

      Power is out in the entire city.

   5. not comparableNot having availability of a service, such as power or communications.

      Most of the city got service back yesterday, but my neighborhood is still out.

   6. not comparablefires etc.Not shining or burning.

      I called round to the house but all the lights were out and no one was home.

   7. not comparableusuallyTemporarily not in operation, or not being attended as usual.

      when school gets out today After school's out, I go to the library until my mom gets off work.

      4 more examples

      School is out tomorrow due to snow. When college is out for the summer, I'll head back to my home state.

      No one is out screaming about Congress being out on a month long vacation.

      1990 August 20, PBS NewsHour (TV), DeFrank (actor)

      […] I had to be there after high school, I mean, after school was out, and after college was out, I had to go straight home.

      2012 October 23, Kids As Caregivers Face Special Challenges (radio), via National Public Radio

      It's a good thing that Congress is out for the month of August […]

      2013 August 4, Powerhouse Roundtable (TV), Jeff Zeleny (actor), via ABC

   8. not comparableUnconscious, either because asleep or because otherwise knocked out.

      out like a light

      2 more examples

      Near-synonyms: out cold (deep degree, difficult or impossible to rouse), down for the count

      I had a whack on the head and was out for a few seconds.

      Synonyms: out cold, down for the count

   9. not comparableNo longer popular or in fashion.

      Black is out this season. The new black is white.

      Synonyms: démodé

4. Open or public (about something).
   1. not comparableOpenly acknowledging that one is LGBT+ (gay, trans, etc).

      I'm not out to my parents.

      3 more examples

      It's no big deal to be out in the entertainment business.

      I had not come out yet and he was out but wasn't; quite ungay, I would say, and yet gay.

      2011, Allan Bérubé, My Desire for History: Essays in Gay, Community, and Labor History

      However, for a transgender man, while living stealth can be a feasible option for some, key people will need to know […] Not everyone has to be out, loud and proud or march down the streets holding trans flags […]

      2018, Matthew Waites, Supporting Young Transgender Men: A Guide for Professionals, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN, page 40

   2. broadlynot comparableuncommonOpen, public; public about or openly acknowledging some (usually specified) identity.

      She was “out” as a survivor for the first time in her life. “I had friends who had known me many, many years who are totally astounded, shocked,” she said. “They could not believe that I was a Holocaust survivor. […]”

      2014, Arlene Stein, Reluctant Witnesses: Survivors, Their Children, and the Rise of Holocaust Consciousness, Oxford University Press, →ISBN

5. not comparableFreed from secrecy.

   My secret is out.

6. Available to be seen, or to be interacted with in some way:
   1. not comparableReleased, available for purchase, download or other use.

      Did you hear? Their newest CD is out!

      1 more example

      The game was commercially released on Xbox and PC in 2005 as an installment of the Close Combat series, which had been out since 1996.

      2009, Roger Stahl, Militainment, Inc.: War, Media, and Popular Culture, page 96

   2. not comparableIn bloom.

      The garden looks beautiful now that the roses are out.

   3. not comparablemoon or starsVisible in the sky; not obscured by clouds.

      The sun is out, and it's a lovely day.

   4. not comparableobsoleteOf a young lady: having entered society and available to be courted.

      "Pray, is she out, or is she not?—I am puzzled.—She dined at the Parsonage, with the rest of you, which seemed like being out; and yet she says so little, that I can hardly suppose she is."

      1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter V, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 98

7. not comparableAt or near its lowest level.

   You can walk to the island when the tide's out.

8. not comparableWithout; no longer in possession of; not having any more.

   Do you have any bread? Sorry, we're out.

   Synonyms: all out[intensive

9. AustraliaUKnot comparableContaining errors or discrepancies, or in error by a stated amount.

   The measurement was out by three millimetres.

   1 more example

   Nothing adds up in this report. All these figures are out.

   Synonyms: off

alternative Northumbria oot · alternative obsolete oute

1. especiallyprocedure wordgovernmentA radio procedure word meaning that the station is finished with its transmission and does not expect a response.

   Destruction. Two T-72s destroyed. Three foot mobiles down. Out.

   1 more example

   [Galactic Federation official]: 'Does Samus suspect anything?' / Ship AI: 'No, I do not think so.' / [Galactic Federation official]: 'Good. Monitor her closely.' / Ship AI: 'Affirmative. Out.'

   2002 November 18, Nintendo R&D1, Metroid Fusion, Nintendo, Game Boy Advance, scene: dispatch

   1. especiallyhumorousslangprocedure word; following one's own name; following one's own namegovernmentUsed as a brusque or dramatic farewell

      Welp, I got nothing else to say. Mikey out.

2. Get out; begone; away!

   Out, damned spot! Out, I say!

   c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)