go out
1. To go on a date with someone. Those two have such an obvious chemistry that I'm surprised they've never gone out. No, Jake and I were never a couple, we just went out a few times. Wow, I can't believe someone as beautiful as Kelly is gonna go out with me! How did I get so lucky?
2. To leave one's home. Let's go out tonight—I don't feel like cooking. Ugh, I hate having to go out when it's this cold. No amount of layers is enough to keep me warm! Now that I work from home, I rarely go out during the workweek.
3. To stop functioning. After the power went out, I spent the night reading by candlelight. I have to go buy a new blender because the motor in mine went out on me today. A: "The TV just went out?" B: "Yes, and I already tried smacking it, Grandpa. It won't come back on."
4. To try to become a participant in something; to try out for something. I hear Tim's going out for the football team this year! A: "I thought you were going out for the baseball team this year." B: "That was the plan, until I broke my foot." I'm planning to go out for the basketball team, so I need to practice every day this summer.
5. To die. As much as you may want to plan your funeral, you can't control when you go out. A: "Yikes, why did I think Ed had already gone out?" B: "Probably because he's about 100 years old?" My mom is terrified of flying because she's convinced that's how she'll go out.
6. To faint. Once the heat got to me, I felt dizzy and then went out. Sarah went out as soon as she crossed the finish line, but luckily her boyfriend was able to catch her. She really has to monitor her blood sugar carefully—if it drops too precipitously, she's liable to go out.
7. To stop working, as of employees on strike. We're prepared to go out if management doesn't agree to our contract demands. The employees are threatening to go out if we don't increase their wages. Workers of the mine have gone out over what they say are unsafe working conditions and inadequate pay
8. To no longer be trendy or fashionable. If skinny jeans ever go out, I'll have no pants to wear. I'm sorry, Grandma, but shag carpeting has definitely gone out. I miss the big hair of the '80s. Why did that ever have to go out?
9. To move away from the shore. When will the tide go out? A: "Am I going to get splashed?" B: "Nah, the tide's gone out." When the waves went out, they pulled strands of seaweed along with them.
10. To be disseminated or distributed. Ask the party planner when the invitations will go out. Without a good literary agent, I highly doubt that her manuscript will go out. I had no idea there was a PTA meeting today! Did fliers go out about it?
11. To put forth effort in pursuit of something. It's time for you to go out and get yourself a job! Of course you're single—you refuse to go out and find yourself a girlfriend! You guys can't build a campaign until you go out and learn what's important to prospective voters.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
go out
(for something) 1. Lit. to go outside to get something or to do something. Jill just went out for a breath of fresh air. He just went out, and should be back any minute.
2. Fig. to try out for something. (Usually refers to a sport.) Mary went out for the soccer team. Tom went out for baseball.
go out
(with someone) 1. Lit. to go out with someone for entertainment. The Smiths went out with the Franklins to a movie. Those guys don't have much time to go out.
2. Fig. to go on a date with someone; to date someone regularly. Is Bob still going out with Sally? No, they've stopped going out.
go out
1. to leave one's house. Call me later. I'm going out now. Sally told her father that she was going out.
2. to become extinguished. The fire finally went out. The lights went out and left us in the dark.
3. Go to go out of fashion.
go out
(of something) to leave something or some place. I went out of there feeling sorry for myself. I went out with a smile on my face.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
go out
1. Be extinguished, as in All the lights went out. [c. 1400]
2. Die; also, faint. For example,
I want to go out before I become senile, or
At the sight of blood he went out like a light. The first usage dates from about 1700 and was at first put
go out of the world. For the variant, see under
out cold.
3. Take part in social life outside the home, as in We go out a lot during the holiday season. This usage dates from the second half of the 1700s and gave rise to go out with someone, meaning "to date someone."
4. Stop working, as in To show their support of the auto workers, the steel workers went out too. This expression is short for go out on strike. [Late 1800s]
5. Become unfashionable, as in Bell-bottom pants went out in the 1970s but made a comeback in the 1990s. This usage is sometimes amplified to go out of fashion or go out of style, as in This kind of film has gone out of fashion, or These boots are going out of style. [Late 1400s]
6. Cease to function as before. This sense appears in go out of print, said of a book that will no longer be printed. Also see the subsequent idioms beginning with go out.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
go out
v.1. To leave a building, region, or other place: Let's go out and look at the stars. I went out for a cigarette. The children went out to play in the snow. We went out on the porch. Instead of cooking, let's go out for dinner tonight. We ran out of rice, so I went out for some more. The seas are too rough for the ships to go out today.
2. To exit through something: Go out the back door so that no one sees you.
3. To recede from the land. Used of tides: When the tide goes out, we collect shells along the shore.
4. To leave the boundary of a game: If you kick the ball and it goes out, the other team gets control.
5. To take an active role in accomplishing something. Used with and: You should go out and get a lawyer if you want to win this case.
6. To make a trip, especially to some distant or remote location: We went out to the country to visit the dairy farm. This ferry goes out to the islands.
7. To be sent, broadcast, or disseminated: The package went out last week. The invitations went out two weeks before the party. The word went out that the couple was getting a divorce.
8. To have something, such as one's thoughts, heart, or sympathy, preoccupied with or affected by someone's suffering: Our hearts go out to the victims of the fire.
9. To take part in social life outside the home: I go out every Friday night. Let's go out tonight and see a movie. On our last date, we went out for ice cream. I'm going out to meet some friends at the mall. I went out to dinner with my parents.
10. To collapse structurally: The bridge went out after the heavy rains.
11. To become extinguished: The children were frightened when the lights went out. The power went out during the storm. We stayed up and talked until the fire went out.
12. To become unfashionable: Big collars are going out of fashion. High boots went out last year.
13. To be in a steady romantic relationship with someone: They started going out a couple of months ago, and now they are inseparable. She had been going out with him for three years before they got married.
14. go out for To undergo a competitive qualifying test for some athletic team: If you plan to go out for the basketball team this year, you had better start practicing. I've gone out for the swim team every year, but I've never made it.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.