count out

British  

verb

1. informal to leave out; exclude

   count me out!

2. (of a boxing referee) to judge (a floored boxer) to have failed to recover within the specified time See count 1

3. to count (something) aloud

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count out Idioms  

1. Declare a boxer (or other contestant) to have lost, as in Paul was counted out in the first round . This term alludes to count in the sense of “ten seconds,” the time allowed for a boxer to rise after being knocked down (if he does not rise in time, he is “out”). The earliest recorded use of the term was for a cockfight in 1808; its use for boxing came about a century later. Also see down for the count .

2. Exclude, leave out of consideration, as in As for skiing this winter, you'll have to count me out . [ Colloquial ; mid-1800s] Also see count in .

3. Apportion; also, recalculate. For example, They counted out four pieces of music for each band member , or When Peggy got her change she counted out all the pennies . [Mid-1800s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

count out

On July 16 this column advised readers not to count out Rep. Ralph Norman despite his having placed third in the race for the gubernatorial nomination.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

I don’t count out any possibility at this moment.

From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026

But don't count out the big players and their state-of-the-art models just yet.

From Barron's ● May 31, 2026

Don’t count out Eilish or Mars, though — both are two-time victors in a category nobody’s ever won three times.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026

From the rooftops I could already tell that there were about a dozen bars that matched the location and his description—here on the ground, I count out nine of them.

From "Legend" by Marie Lu