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 could own a car, ignore senior discounts because “they’re too much trouble,” eat out frequently at overpriced restaurants catering to expats, and load up on expensive imported food and alcohol at the grocery store.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 2, 2026
Restaurant chains are challenged as consumers eat out less.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 17, 2025
What’s Next: Americans are dining out less often and shopping more at grocery and convenience stores—and when they do eat out, they’re focused on value, notes Mizuho analyst Nick Setyan.
From Barron's • Oct. 30, 2025
She hypothesized that the issue was compounded by the fact that many people were not going in to work, meaning they didn’t have disposable income to eat out.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 16, 2025
“Why do you want to eat out of a can when you can set at the table with us?”
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
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.
