Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adv. In a direction away from the inside: Let's go out and look at the stars.
- adv. Away from the center or middle: The troops fanned out.
- adv. Away from a usual place: stepped out for a drink of water; went out for the evening.
- adv. Out of normal position: threw his back out.
- adv. Out-of-bounds.
- adv. From inside a building or shelter into the open air; outside: The boy went out to play.
- adv. In the open air; outside: Is it snowing out?
- adv. From within a container or source: drained the water out.
- adv. From among others: picked out the thief in the crowd.
- adv. To exhaustion or depletion: The supplies have run out.
- adv. Into extinction or imperceptibility: The fire has gone out.
- adv. To a finish or conclusion: Play the game out.
- adv. To the fullest extent or degree: all decked out for the dance.
- adv. In or into competition or directed effort: went out for the basketball team; was out to win.
- adv. In or into a state of unconsciousness: The drug put him out for two hours.
- adv. Into being or evident existence: The new car models have come out.
- adv. Into public circulation: The paper came out early today.
- adv. Into view: The moon came out.
- adv. Without inhibition; boldly: Speak out.
- adv. Into possession of another or others; into distribution: giving out free passes.
- adv. Into disuse or an unfashionable status: Narrow ties have gone out.
- adv. Into a state of deprivation or loss: voted the incompetent governor out.
- adv. In the time following; afterward: "to gauge economic conditions six months out” ( Christian Science Monitor).
- adv. Baseball So as to be retired, or counted as an out: He grounded out to the shortstop.
- adv. On strike: The auto workers went out when management refused to reduce outsourcing.
- adj. Exterior; external: the out surface of a ship's hull.
- adj. Directed away from a place or center; outgoing: the out doorway.
- adj. Traveling or landing out-of-bounds.
- adj. Not operating or operational: The power has been out for a week.
- adj. Extinguished: The lights were out next door.
- adj. Unconscious: was out for an hour during surgery.
- adj. Not to be considered or permitted: A taxi is out, because we don't have enough money. From now on, eating candy before dinner is out.
- adj. No longer fashionable.
- adj. No longer existing in one's possession or supplies: I can't offer you coffee because we're out.
- adj. Informal Openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual: an out performer.
- adj. Baseball Not allowed to continue to bat or run; retired.
- prep. Forth from; through: He fell out the window.
- prep. Beyond or outside of: Out this door is the garage.
- prep. Within the area of: The house has a garden out back.
- n. One that is out, especially one who is out of power.
- n. Informal A means of escape: The window was my only out.
- n. Baseball A play in which a batter or base runner is retired.
- n. Baseball The player retired in such a play.
- n. Sports A serve or return that falls out of bounds in a court game.
- n. Printing A word or other part of a manuscript omitted from the printed copy.
- v. To be disclosed or revealed; come out: Truth will out.
- v. Sports To send (a tennis ball, for example) outside the court or playing area.
- v. To expose (one considered to be heterosexual) as being gay, lesbian, or bisexual: a tabloid article that outed a well-known politican.
- v. Chiefly British To knock unconscious.
- interj. Used in two-way radio to indicate that a transmission is complete and no reply is expected.
- idiom. on the outs Informal Not on friendly terms; disagreeing.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Forth, either from a place, position, state, condition, or relation, or into a specified position, condition, existence, action, view, association, etc. — the original notion ‘forth’ or the resultant notion ‘in’ prevailing according to the context or to circumstances. From within or the inside to the exterior or outside: as, to go out; to rush out.
- From a source or receptacle: as, to draw out a dagger; to pour out wine; to squeeze out a drop.
- From confinement, concealment, obscurity, entanglement, etc.: as, to let out a secret; to bring out the meaning of a passage.
- From a proper or usual place, position, or connection: as, to cut out a line of verse; to put out of joint.
- From a number of objects; from among others, or from all the others, as by seeking, choosing, separating, omitting, etc.: as, to find out; to pick out; to leave out.
- From accustomed security to the field of combat, especially single combat: as, to call a man out to fight a duel.
- From any previous position, state, or condition. In or into plain sight, prominence, or relief.
- Into public view or notice; hence, in or into vogue, fashion, or circulation: as, the book came out last year.
- In or into social notice; in or into society.
- Into general knowledge or publicity: as, the story leaked out.
- In or into existence: as, the meanest man out.
- In or into a state of confusion, vexation, dispute, variance, or unfriendliness: as, he is out in his calculations; to fall out about trifies.
- From among the number of contestants; so as to be no longer in the game: as, B was put out in the third round.
- Forth as regards extension or protraction; in length or duration: as, to spread out a mat; to stretch out a hand.
- Forth; forward; away, as from a point of departure.
- Without; outside; forth or away from the place, house, or apartment; in the open air; out of doors: opposed to in or within: as, he went out at noon; to hang out a sign.
- Not in or within; absent: as, when the wine is in, the wit is out. Not in the house, at home, or at hand: as, my master is out; at the library the book was out.
- No longer in the game in which one has duly had his turn; not now engaged in playing.
- Not in office or employment; unemployed; disengaged: as, a butler superannuated and out of service.
- Not in place; dislocated.
- Not in present or personal possession or use; let for hire, or placed at interest.
- At a loss (by a certain sum): as, he is out ten dollars.
- Not in practice; unskilful from want of practice.
- Not in vogue or fashion.
- At variance; at odds; unfriendly.
- Beyond fixed or regular limits.
- So as to be exposed or made bare, as by rents in one's clothing.
- In a state of disclosure; so as to be no longer concealed.
- In a state of advanced development; specifically, of plants, in foliage; in blossom; in bloom.
- Away from the mark: in error; wrong; out of line, time, key, and the like: as, he is quite out in his guess; the soprano is out with the other parts.
- In a state of confusion or perplexity; puzzled; at a loss.
- In a state of completion; over; at an end.
- In a state of exhaustion or extinction.
- Abroad; away. Especially — Away from port; outward bound; on the outward voyage: as, when three days out we fell in with a wreck.
- At large; on the march; afield, or in the field; on duty; on a hunting expedition; on the dueling ground: as, the militia were out in force; the bushwhackers are out; the hounds are out; he was out in 1745 (that is, with the Jacobites).
- Abroad; absent in foreign lands; beyond the sea.
- To others; to outside parties, as for use at interest, premium, commission, wages, etc.: as, to lend out money; to let out lodgings; to farm out a contract; to hire out by the day.
- To an end. To a conclusion or settlement: as, to hear one out; to face or fight it out; to hold out to the last; to have it out with an opponent.
- To development, completion, consummation, or perfection; to a successful issue: as, to work out a plan: to spell out a message; to make out or puzzle out something obscure; to carve out a fortune; to eke out a livelihood; to deck out a room.
- To exhaustion, extinction, or conclusion; to the end; so as to finish or exhaust or be exhausted or consumed; so as to bring to naught or render useless: as, the supplies have given out; to wear out; to eat out (consume); to pump out a well, or bail out a boat; to put out one's eyes or a light.
- So as to free from obstruction, encumbrance, or refuse: as, to sweep out a room; to thresh out grain; to weed out a garden.
- Without stint or reserve; in an open and unreserved manner; fully; completely; thoroughly; outright; hence, plainly; clearly; loudly: as, to speak out; to read out the names; to call or cry out; to ring or sing out.
- Forth from. From within; from the bounds, precincts, possession, containing, holding, or grasp of: as, out of the door or window; out of his clutches; out of the darkness and silence.
- From an origin, source, or place of derivation or supply: as, out of evil good often comes.
- From, as a motive or reason; on account of: as, he did it out of kindness, pity, fear, etc.
- From among; from the midst of; by selection from.
- From; by means of; by.
- Forth from, so as to pass or reach beyond; beyond the lines, limits, scope, sphere, reach, or influence of: as, to be out of sight; out of hearing; out of date; time out of mind (that is, beyond the reach of memory).
- Without; bereft of.
- From the interior of; forth from.
- On the exterior of; outside of.
- Beyond; past.
- [The use of out as a preposition is obsolete or poetic. A prepositional use is generally secured by subjoining of, from, or some other preposition to the adverb out. As a preposition out is often pleonastically preceded by from, from out of being also used in place of from out.
- [In composition out has either its ordinary adverbial sense, as in outcast, outcome, outlook, etc., or a prepositional force, as in outdoors, or forms transitive verbs denoting a going beyond or surpassing of the object of the verb, in doing the act expressed by the word to which it is prefixed, as in outrun, outshine, outvenom, etc. In the last use especially out may be used with almost any noun or verb. Only a few, comparatively, of such compounds are entered below; and if of modern formation they are left without further etymological note.]
- Begone! away! See the verb.
- Draw, do, say, etc., at once.
- External; exterior: used in composition: as, which side — the outside or the inside?
- Outlying: used in composition: as, outpost, outhouse.
- Out of the way; remote; foreign.
- Unpaid: still due: as, “out charges,”
- n. One who is out; specifically, in politics, one out of office: opposed to an in: in this sense used chiefly in the plural.
- n. See ins and outs, under in, n.
- n. Leave to go out; an outing; a holiday ramble or excursion.
- To put out; expel; eject; oust.
- To sell; dispose of; got rid of.
- To display; publish; utter.
- To go or come out; begone; be off; be removed or disclosed.
- n. In printing, the omission by the type-setter of a word or of lines in the copy.
Wiktionary
- adv. Away from home or one's usual place, or not indoors.
- adv. Away from; at a distance.
- adv. Away from the inside or the centre.
- adv. Into a state of non-operation; into non-existence.
- adv. Used to intensify or emphasize.
- adv. cricket, baseball Of a player, disqualified from playing further by some action of a member of the opposing team (such as being stumped in cricket).
- prep. Away from the inside.
- prep. this sense?) (informal) Away from the center.
- n. A means of exit, escape, reprieve, etc.
- n. baseball A 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.
- n. cricket A 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 hit wicket, wherein the bowler has hit the batter's wicket with the ball.
- n. poker A card which can make a hand a winner.
- v. transitive To reveal (a person) to be secretly homosexual.
- v. transitive To reveal (a person or organization) as having a certain secret.
- v. transitive To reveal (a secret).
- adj. obsolete Of a young lady, having entered society and available to be courted.
- adj. released, available for purchase, download or other use
- adj. cricket, baseball Of a batter or batsman, having caused an out called on himself while batting under various rules of the game.
- adj. Openly acknowledging one's homosexuality.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adv. In its original and strict sense,
out means from the interior of something; beyond the limits or boundary of somethings; in a position or relation which is exterior to something; -- opposed toin orinto . The something may be expressed afterof ,from , etc. (see Out of, below); or, if not expressed, it is implied - adv. Away; abroad; off; from home, or from a certain, or a usual, place; not in; not in a particular, or a usual, place. Opposite of
in . - adv. Beyond the limits of concealment, confinement, privacy, constraint, etc., actual or figurative; hence, not in concealment, constraint, etc., in, or into, a state of freedom, openness, disclosure, publicity, etc.; a matter of public knowledge
- adv. Beyond the limit of existence, continuance, or supply; to the end; completely; hence, in, or into, a condition of extinction, exhaustion, completion.
- adv. Beyond possession, control, or occupation; hence, in, or into, a state of want, loss, or deprivation; -- used of office, business, property, knowledge, etc.
- adv. Beyond the bounds of what is true, reasonable, correct, proper, common, etc.; in error or mistake; in a wrong or incorrect position or opinion; in a state of disagreement, opposition, etc.; in an inharmonious relation.
- adv. Not in the position to score in playing a game; not in the state or turn of the play for counting or gaining scores.
- adv. Out of fashion; unfashionable; no longer in current vogue; unpopular.
- n. One who, or that which, is out; especially, one who is out of office; -- generally in the plural.
- n. A place or space outside of something; a nook or corner; an angle projecting outward; an open space; -- chiefly used in the phrase
ins and outs . See under In. - n. (Print.) A word or words omitted by the compositor in setting up copy; an omission.
- v. To cause to be out; to eject; to expel.
- v. obsolete To come out with; to make known.
- v. obsolete To give out; to dispose of; to sell.
- v. To come or go out; to get out or away; to become public.
- interj. Expressing impatience, anger, a desire to be rid of; -- with the force of command; go out; begone; away; off.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be made known; be disclosed or revealed
- n. (baseball) a failure by a batter or runner to reach a base safely in baseball
- v. to state openly and publicly one's homosexuality
- adj. directed outward or serving to direct something outward
- adj. not allowed to continue to bat or run
- adj. not worth considering as a possibility
- adj. knocked unconscious by a heavy blow
- adj. out of power; especially having been unsuccessful in an election
- adj. outside or external
- adv. away from home
- adj. outer or outlying
- adj. excluded from use or mention
- v. reveal (something) about somebody's identity or lifestyle
- adj. no longer fashionable
- adv. from one's possession
- adj. being out or having grown cold
- adv. moving or appearing to move away from a place, especially one that is enclosed or hidden
Etymologies
- From a combination of Old English ūt (from Proto-Germanic *ūt) and ūte. Cognate with West Frisian út, Dutch uit, German aus, Norwegian/Swedish ut, ute, Danish ud, ude. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English ūt. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Speak ever so slowly, so carefully picking out which immaculately groomed flowers to point out to you, and then stepping quietly backwards in their oh so finely-turned out gentlemen's clothes and letting you go on ahead to admire things from your own safely chosen distances, your own freedom's comfortable as a big fat overstuffed chair perspective.”
“*Sits down next to PB and whips her bicycle pump out of her pack, fits it with special balloon-blowing-up attachment and helps out*”
Snuggies - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“If acting out of friendship is composed of purposes, dispositions to have purposes, and the like, where these are purposes properly so-called, and thus not essentially described by the phrase ˜out of friendship™, there seems ¦ no guarantee that the person cares about and likes, has friendship for, the”
“I looked at Dan and tried to not cry, which freaked him out I think, because he got that Oh Christ, please don't freak out look on his face.”
“But most of the agent-searching advice out there says to seek out agents who represent authors whose work is similar to ours -even to *point those similarities out* to the agent in our queries.”
“That strategy would certainly intimidate schools into putting evolution into the classroom– and balance out the fact that they are often intimidated into taking it *out* of the classroom.”
“For the sake of national security, Teller wanted the United States to find out, _and to be the first to find out_, whether or not the so-called "super bomb" was feasible.”
“Not to mention the massive nosebleeds that just start out of nowhere and go until I pass out ”
“So I did something I actually regret to this day, a decision I feel cheated me out of a huge life experience when the invite finally came through to come over and hang out ”
“He may have looked at himself or had, uh, sought out somebody else to help him look at himselfand to find out what was actually the cause of his problem.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘out’.
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Sweet tooth fairy dominoes
As originally suggested on sweet tooth fairy domino:
Each person adds one word trying to create a single, potentially infinite sweet tooth fairy (please look it up if you are not familiar wit...banana, boat, house, arrest, warrant, peace, sign, post, box, clever, Hans, device and 119 more...
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EN - Glasgow stop list
Words to be replaced by a paragraph mark if you are after terms and MWEs.
about, above, across, after, afterwards, again, against, all, almost, alone, along, already and 291 more...
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EN - pronunciation fun
All words of the poem
The Chaos
by Gerard Nolst Trenité
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse <...abyss, ache, actual, advice, aerie, age, ague, aisles, alas, alien, alive, allowed and 406 more...
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3-letter Scrabble Words
aah, aal, aas, aba, abo, abs, aby, ace, act, add, ado, ads and 995 more...
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The Pain of Texting
Words that are a pain in the ass to type in on a numerical keypad on a cell phone because they have consecutive letters that share the same button:
2 - ABC
3 - DEF
4 - GHI...defcon, hi, no, attitude, xylophone, on, monday, monkey, mono, dig, back, babble and 212 more...
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Words Heard Too Often In Songs
Words overused in modern pop music.
Also see ruzuzu's list: Words that should be heard in songs more often.love, heart, dance, dancefloor, down, take, want, night, fight, baby, like, ooooh and 136 more...
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Git!
Shoo! Scram! Go on now! Nothing to see! Move it!
shoo, scram, get going, move it, move along, go on now, nothing to see, scat, skedaddle, vamoose, beat it, make tracks and 37 more...
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words classifiable in 4 different way...
words classifiable in 4 different ways as a noun, verb, adj and adv
best, better, bitter, broadside, clean, clear, close, cod, collect, counter, crisscross, damn and 39 more...
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Please see attached
things seen. got the idea from the list Stuffie: Just Do It!
red, stars, dead people, the sights, a man about a dog, how it goes, how it went, double, it coming, you, the error of your..., no evil and 47 more...
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Autantonyms
Words that are the opposites of themselves; each of the words in the list below has at least two definitions of which one is the complete contrary of the other.
fast, buckle, weather, out, weedy, overlook, cleave, let, clip, quite, sanction, bolt and 19 more...
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Resident Pipsiculturalist Makes Huge ...
See comments on pipsiculture and homosexuality, which have nothing to do with each other except that I read comments on them at around the same time on the same day.
See also the list ...heterosexuality, homosexuality, agriculture, argumentative, that, article, thus, make, do, the, interesting, like and 106 more...
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him and i
peach, left, alone, abandon, horid, gay, bloody, beautiful, outside, inside, confused, unconditional and 111 more...
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cindywrites's Words
chiaroscuro, mollycoddle, feckless, evocative, provocative, invocation, beckon, allay, becalm, console, lull, soothe and 479 more...
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3LW
3 letter words, not the girl band.
boggle and speed scrabble would not be half as fun without them.aah, boa, dot, fun, ick, log, oca, pyx, sos, was, aal, bob and 342 more...
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i don't like cricket, i love it
Words without which cricket could not be.
keeper, stumper, bad light stopped..., wicket keeper, rain stopped play, sight screen, bodyline, leg bye, duck, duckworth-lewis, t20, one-day game and 245 more...
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Two years
Okay, I admit it. I made a list of words my daughter knew when she was two years old.
bat, baba, a, abalone, about, acorn, adrienne, after, again, airplane, alison, all and 694 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for out.

whichbe A contronym: both visible (e.g., stars are out) *and* invisible (e.g., lights out.) May 14, 2008
oroboros "Where'd you go?"
"Out."
"What'd you do?"
"Nothing." Nov 11, 2007