carry-out

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.

Carry-out was first and is primarily used in the U.S. The first records of the word come from the 1930s. It’s origin is straightforward: when you get carry–out, you carry it out of the place where you get it.

The term carry-out is sometimes contrasted with the terms eat-in and delivery, such as on a restaurant sign that says Eat-in / Carry-out / Delivery. Eat-in means there is seating available so that you can eat inside the restaurant, and it’s most often used for casual eateries. However, the term carry-out can be applied to all kinds of restaurants that allow you to come pick up the food and leave with it. Drive-through isn’t usually considered the same as carry-out since you don’t have to enter the building (and literally carry out the food).

In the U.S., the term takeout is probably more popular when it comes to food. However, bars that sell alcoholic beverages to-go (like six-packs of beer) very commonly call this service carry-out.

When carry-out refers to a place that offers such a service, it’s typically used as an adjective, as opposed to a noun. People are much more likely to say Let’s get something from the carry-out place, as opposed to Let’s get something from the carry-out.

What are some other forms related to carry-out?

• carryout (alternate spelling)

What are some synonyms for carry-out?

• takeout
• takeaway
• pick-up
• to-go

What are some words that share a root or word element with carry-out? 

• carry
• out
• carry out

What are some words that often get used in discussing carry-out?

• food 
• restaurant
• meal
• service
• eat-in
• delivery
• pizza
• beer

Carry-out is most often associated with casual eateries where you can pick your meal and go eat it at home.

Kade told me it was my craving night so we went around to all my fav restaurants, got carry-out, & came home to watch my fav kid movies :)))

— kendall (@kendalllmariee) October 29, 2016

do you tip when you get carry-out?

— nicole buckel (@buckel_n) May 17, 2020

no, go local, like a hole-in-the-wall carry-out place

— Tom the Iron Man (@SgtHarvey) July 13, 2017

Is carry-out used correctly in the following sentence?

Does the carry-out menu have everything that’s on the regular menu?