eat out
Britishverb
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Have a meal outside one's home, usually at a restaurant. For example, We're almost out of groceries, so let's eat out tonight . [Second half of 1900s] For the antonym, see eat in .
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eat someone out Also, eat someone up . Rebuke or scold someone sharply, as in He was always eating out the kids , or Why are you eating me up? I haven't done anything wrong . This slangy synonym for chew out probably originated as a euphemism for eat someone's ass out . It dates from the 1940s, the variant from the 1840s. Also see the subsequent entries beginning with eat out .
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We were a family that didn’t eat out.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
Higher prices are making people eat out less, especially younger and lower-income customers.
From Barron's • Feb. 3, 2026
If you eat out more than you buy groceries, for example, you’ll want cards that give you points at restaurants rather than supermarkets.
From MarketWatch • Oct. 31, 2025
Consumer spending jumped 3.7% in the third quarter, as people bought more cars and spent money on healthcare services and to travel and eat out.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 30, 2024
Trina and her sisters would eat out of garbage cans; sometimes they would not eat for days.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
