go out

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go out (third-person singular simple present goes out, present participle going out, simple past went out, past participle gone out)

1. (intransitive) To leave, especially a building.

   Please go out through the back door.

2. (intransitive, idiomatic) To leave one's abode to go to public places, especially for recreation or entertainment.

   Antonym: stay in

   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.

   Let's go out tonight and have some fun!

   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Luke viij:[5], folios lxxxvj, verso – lxxxvij, recto:

     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.

   • 1986 September 8, Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes (comic):

     It seems like we go out for pizza a lot these days.

3. (intransitive) To be eliminated from a competition.

   Our team went out in the third round.

4. (intransitive) To come to an end, by nature or by an unseen external agent.
   1. To be turned off or extinguished.

      The lights went out while I was taking a shower.

   2. To go unconscious; to pass out.

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

   3. To be drained from; to disappear from somebody.

      After diagnosis, all his confidence went out of him.

   4. To become extinct, to expire.
      • 1922 October, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “[Poem] XXVIII”, in Last Poems, London: Grant Richards Ltd., →OCLC, page 54:

        And cold the poor man lies at night, / And so goes out the year.

   5. 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.

5. (intransitive, card games) To discard or meld all the cards in one's hand.

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

6. (intransitive) To pass out of fashion.

   Antonym: come in

   He thought Nehru jackets went out in the late seventies.

   • 1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, →OCLC, section II, page 24:

     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.

7. (intransitive, 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.

8. (intransitive, with with) To have a romantic relationship (with someone).

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

   • 1978, Joe Jackson, Is She Really Going Out with Him?
9. (intransitive, colloquial) To fail.

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

10. (intransitive, 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?

11. (intransitive, of the tide) To recede; to ebb.

    Antonym: come in

12. (intransitive, 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.

13. (obsolete) To take part in a duel (with). [17th–19th c.]
    • 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 went out at the firſt hint with the Neapolitan, and being an admirable ſwordſman, wounded and diſarmed him; […]

    • 1890 December, Cornhill Magazine, page 626:

      He must go out or be under a social ban. Out they go accordingly, and the trained pistol-shot kills his civilian opponent.

14. (intransitive, UK, broadcasting) To be broadcast.

    The first episode of the show goes out on Saturday.

• (have a romantic relationship): date; see also Thesaurus:date

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