go out

verb, noun — 21 senses

go out

verbalso spelled go-out
18 senses
  1. 1To leave, especially a building.
  2. 2To leave one's abode to go to public places, especially…
  3. 3To be eliminated from a competition.
  4. 4To be turned off or extinguished.
  5. 5To go unconscious; to pass out.
  6. 6To be drained from; to disappear from somebody.
  7. 7To become extinct, to expire.
  8. 8To die.
  9. 9To discard or meld all the cards in one's hand.
  10. 10To pass out of fashion; be on the wane.
  11. 11To have a romantic relationship, one that involves going…
  12. 12To have a romantic relationship (with someone).
  13. 13To fail.
  14. 14To spend the last moments of a show (while playing something).
  15. 15To recede; to ebb.
  16. 16To sympathize with; to express positive feelings towards.
  17. 17To take part in a duel (with).
  18. 18To be broadcast.
1

To leave, especially a building.

  • Please go out through the back door.
2

Idiomatic To leave one's abode to go to public places, especially for recreation or entertainment.

  • They were going to stay in and read, but instead went out shopping.
  • On their first date they went out to dinner at a restaurant.
3 more examples
  • Let's go out tonight and have some fun!
  • A ſower went out to ſowe his ſeede / and as he ſowed / ſome fell by the waye ſyde / and hit was troden vnder fete / and the foules of the ayre devoured it vp.1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke viij:[5], folios lxxxvj, verso – lxxxvij, recto:
  • It seems like we go out for pizza a lot these days.1986 September 8, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic):
3

To be eliminated from a competition.

  • Our team went out in the third round.

› To come to an end, by nature or by an unseen…

4

To be turned off or extinguished.

  • The lights went out while I was taking a shower.
  • The match at once went out and Nickle only just saved himself from screaming.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
5

To go unconscious; to pass out.

  • When I hit him, he hit the floor and went out.
6

To be drained from; to disappear from somebody.

  • All the fizz has already gone out of the election campaign.
  • After diagnosis, all his confidence went out of him.
7

To become extinct, to expire.

  • And cold the poor man lies at night, / And so goes out the year.1922 October, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] XXVIII”, in Last Poems, London: Grant Richards Ltd., →OCLC, page 54:
8

To die.

  • As much as you may want to plan your funeral, you can't control when you go out.
  • 1977-1980, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure A motorcycle cop led the funeral procession & with all the cabs pulling up the rear we were 5–6 blocks long. The cops even blocked off streets for us. The guy went out like a goddamn mayor.
9

Card games, Games To discard or meld all the cards in one's hand.

  • Leon made two canastas, then went out by melding treys.
10

To pass out of fashion; be on the wane.

  • He thought Nehru jackets went out in the late seventies.
  • And ‘blubbing’ . . . Blubbing went out with ‘decent’ and ‘ripping’. Mind you, not a bad new language to start up. 1920s schoolboy slang could be due for a revival.1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section II, page 24:
11

Of a couple To have a romantic relationship, one that involves going out together on dates; to be a couple.

  • They've been going out for three years now, but still live apart.
  • Jack and Susan are going out.
12

With with To have a romantic relationship (with someone).

  • Do you think she will go out with anyone this year?
13

Colloquial To fail.

  • I'd like to help clear the field, but my knee went out on me.
14

With on To spend the last moments of a show (while playing something).

  • Thank you for introducing us to your new album. Which song should we go out on?
15

Of the tide To recede; to ebb.

16

Usually, Of one's heart To sympathize with; to express positive feelings towards.

  • Our thoughts and prayers go out to those afflicted by the tragedy.
  • My heart went out to her, but there was nothing I could do.
17

Obsolete To take part in a duel (with).

  • He went out at the firſt hint with the Neapolitan, and being an admirable ſwordſman, wounded and diſarmed him; […]1789 May 27, [John Moore], chapter III, in Zeluco. Various Views of Human Nature, Taken from Life and Manners, Foreign and Domestic., volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 20:
  • He must go out or be under a social ban. Out they go accordingly, and the trained pistol-shot kills his civilian opponent.1890 December, Cornhill Magazine, page 626:
18

Broadcasting, Media UK To be broadcast.

  • The first episode of the show goes out on Saturday.
Synonyms
date
Derived terms
go out on, go out with

go-out

noun
1

A sluice in embankments against the sea, for letting out the land waters when the tide is out.

  • John of Gaunt, "time-honoured Lancaster,," made Lincoln Castle his summer residence, and built a winter palace in the southern suburbs, near the Gowts (go-outs) bridge.1857, George S. Measom, The Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Northern Railway, page 90:
  • There is a public-house in the parish of Burgh-le-March, near Boston, called the "Gowt," and I was told that it meant the go out, or junction of two drains, and that it was a common word in those parts .1871, Notes and Queries, page 276:
2 more examples
  • GOTE—'Pease-Gote Lane.' 'Gote' or 'Gowt' is an outfall or a sluice for the draining the land, it is the "go-out" of a water-course .1892, Harry Cotton Smith, The Town of Sir John Franklin, page 127:
  • But in Queen Elizabeth's reign the river below Boston was getting so silted up again that the waters of South Holland were brought by means of two "gowts" (go outs), or "clows," one into the Witham above Boston at Langrick, and one below into the harbour at Skirbeck, to scour out the channel.1914, Willingham Franklin Rawnsley, Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire, page 432:
2

A dog obedience training maneuver, in which the dog leaves the trainer and goes to a target (a white fence), turns, and sits there

  • This method of teaching the go-out is set up to take 11 days, but can be done in a week if your training sessions are scheduled properly.1979, “Teaching the Go-Out”, in Pure-bred Dogs, American Kennel Gazette, page 101:
  • If you are a competition trainer, an immediate sit is paramount, whether the dog is sitting when coming to a halt while heeling, sitting at front, or doing a go-out.1999, Morgan Spector, Clicker Training for Obedience, page 213:
2 more examples
  • It is used in competition obedience training to teach send-aways (or go-outs) in Utility.2002, Brenda Aloff, Aggression in Dogs:
  • The last time we practiced go-outs he did not understand the game and was frustrated.2004, Pamela Dennison, Bringing Light to Shadow: A Dog Trainer's Diary:
3

A session of surfing, bodyboarding, windsurfing, or similar sea sport.

  • Up until then, I had only surfed Rincon a couple of times. And, they were short go-outs.2003, Herb Torrens, Paraffin Chronicles, page 77:
  • Many business-related surf trips to Florida culminated in my moving to Cocoa Bach, in 1969, but my fondest surf memories are of LBI—especially early morning go-outs off Tebco Terrace in Holgate.2003, Caroline Unger, Surfing Long Beach Island, page 63:
2 more examples
  • Dick Metz came from the era when you slept on the beach, made your own boards, and could only take 20-minute go-outs in California's cold waves, which makes him the surfer with the connection to surfing's enchanting past.2009, Duke Boyd, Legends of Surfing, page 177:
  • Came to Trestles Headquarters today, and the scene was as it's been since the building opened—we, all of us Lifeguards, cronies and peers standing around contemplating the effects of wind, swell and tide, our lives an endless round of surf checks and possible "go-outs.”2018, Mike Brousard, Warm Winds and Following Seas, page 343:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — authors: page histories for go out and go-out.