sub out

present singular third person subs out · participle present subbing out · participle past subbed out · past subbed out

1. transitiveTo replace with a substitute: to substitute (something or someone).

   The thyme can be subbed out for rosemary or sage, if you prefer.

   2018, Rebecca Sullivan, The Art of Herbs for Health

   3 more examples

   It's this single word also that Dickenson's editors subbed out for the 1896 edition of her poems, rendering the line instead, “But sequence ravelled out of reach / like balls upon a floor.”

   2010, Kazim Ali, Orange Alert, page 183

   I've listed sample habits to demonstrate how you might sub out an unproductive one with a productive one.

   2013, Karen Elizaga, Find Your Sweet Spot, page 87

   While McGraw subbed out Wilson, he allowed pitcher Lon Warneke to hit for himself.

   2014, Lew Freedman, The Day All the Stars Came Out, page 103

2. ambitransitiveTo hire a subcontractor (to complete a task): to subcontract (something).

   Near-synonyms: farm out, contract out, outsource

   4 more examples

   On the other hand, we sub out all our basement excavation work simply because we found an expert sub who could beat our costs.

   1963, House & Home - Volume 24, page 122

   You hate drywall, why are you doing it yourself? You shoulda subbed that out.

   2011, Max Kelly, Stress Failure, page 24

   They will also sub out to investigators who are not insured or licensed as a PI in the case area.

   2015, Richard A. Brooks, Private Investigators & The Dirty Little Secret of Subcontracting

   So when I sub-out, it becomes a problem for the sub-cons to handle, not me.

   2018, Low Sui Pheng, Sim Jia Zheng, Construction Productivity in the Multilayer Subcontracting System, page 274

   Synonyms: farm out, contract out, outsource