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.
The latest official figures suggest the UK economy failed to grow in January, with eating out in restaurants suffering in particular.
From BBC
And yet, when Americans are eating out, more people are now purchasing items with deals attached to them than at any time in more than 50 years, according to market-research firm Circana.
She adds that eating out is one of the categories most likely to see customers cutting back, followed by travel, clothing, footwear, and electronics.
From Barron's
It was the likes of eating out, hotel stays and a drop in business for recruitment agencies that held things back.
From BBC
The ONS said the services sector showed no growth in January, as eating out in restaurants in particular suffered.
From BBC
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.
