carry-out
noun
carry-out
American
[kar-ee-out]
/ ˈkær iˌaʊt /
Or
carryout
noun
-
carry-outs
plural
carry out
British
verb
-
to perform or cause to be implemented
I wish he could afford to carry out his plan
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to bring to completion; accomplish
noun
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alcohol bought at a pub or off-licence for consumption elsewhere
-
-
hot cooked food bought at a shop or restaurant for consumption elsewhere
-
a shop or restaurant that sells such food
we'll get something from the Chinese carry-out
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( as modifier )
a carry-out shop
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carry out
Idioms
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Accomplish, bring to a conclusion, as in They carried out the mission successfully . Shakespeare had this term in King Lear (5:1): “And hardly shall I carry out my side, Her husband being alive.” [Late 1500s]
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Put in practice or effect, as in We will carry out the new policy , or Please carry out my instructions . [Mid-1800s]
Usage
What does carry-out mean? Carry-out (or carryout) refers to food or drinks picked up from a restaurant or other place to be consumed elsewhere, typically at home. It can also refer to the place where you get it, though this is less common unless it’s used as an adjective, as in carry-out place or carry-out service. In the U. S., this is also called takeout. In the U. K., it’s called takeaway. Other terms that are often used to describe such services are pick-up and to-go. The term carry-out is based on the phrasal verb carry out, literally meaning to carry something out of a place, like you’d carry the pizza out of the pizzeria. (As a verb, carry out also has other meanings.)Example: I don’t feel like cooking tonight—let’s just get carry-out from the taco place on the way home.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of carry-out
1965–70, adj. use of verb phrase carry 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.
See Examples For:
The helicopter was able to recover his body on Thursday morning, saving what would have been a difficult carry-out for 15 conservation officers and more than 30 volunteers who were on their way to him.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 19, 2024
“Is it the best carry-out of public funding? I don’t know.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2021
The Gibsons boxes, which sell for as much as $268, boosted revenue at a time when health restrictions limited diners to delivery and carry-out.
From Reuters ● Aug. 17, 2021
Perhaps you have a condiment drawer, which is likely also stuffed with flimsy paper carry-out menus and unused plastic utensils.
From Salon ● Mar. 7, 2021
That night, we ate carry-out from the sushi restaurant around the corner from Dad’s office.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
But dismantling the people and expertise required to carry out their missions isn’t efficiency; it’s diminished capacity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
The group said engineers and building inspectors had been at the site to carry out structural assessments, and its team was working to assist guests.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
That combination of wide coverage and high resolution will allow Roman to carry out enormous surveys of the cosmos.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2026
UCU members at the campus are already working to contract, refusing to carry out "extra" unpaid tasks, such as attending weekend open days.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
So I had the outlines of a plan, and I think I went on refining it for several days before it occurred to me it wasn’t actually necessary to carry out all the steps.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Beautiful Jamaican food, chicken cheesesteaks from my favorite carry-outs, five-course meals from Michelin-starred restaurants and my favorite Mexican spot in Baltimore: Clavel.
From Salon ● Nov. 18, 2023
Dad did cook for us when he had the time, but he worked and ripped and ran a lot, so I grew up eating out of corner stores and carry-outs mostly.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2021
Like Turner and Smith, they lived in that neighborhood and went to school or the park or the arcade or the carry-outs there every day.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 23, 2017
The sitdown restaurants will be quite different from the Kentucky Fried Chicken carry-outs that first made Colonel Sanders a household name.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
