conk out
Britishverb
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(of machines, cars, etc) to fail suddenly
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to tire suddenly or collapse, as from exhaustion
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Stop functioning, fail, as in The engine finally conked out . [ Colloquial ; early 1900s]
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Fall asleep, as in Every evening he conked out in front of the television set . [1940s]
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Faint or collapse, as in I don't know if it was the heat, but she suddenly conked out . [1920s]
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Die, as in He's paranoid about conking out and he's only twenty! [Late 1920s]
Etymology
Origin of conk out
C20: of uncertain origin
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.
"Having to go out in the dark every time the generator conked out."
From BBC
The food van that conked out at Del Rosario’s house was from Revolution Foods, one of the vendors in the city’s delivery program.
From Los Angeles Times
But my pacemaker battery was running low, and what if it conked out in the middle of an extraction?
From Los Angeles Times
I had to replace an air conditioner motor that just couldn’t keep up and conked out.
From Scientific American
It wasn’t until a week later that Shute realized how seriously her cognitive function had declined after her AC conked out.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
