live-out
Americanadjective
verb
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012-
Complete or survive the end of a period of time, as in Grandpa wants to live out his days in a warmer climate . [First half of 1500s]
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Reside away from one's place of employment, as in She's a fine housekeeper, but insists on living out . This expression is used primarily for domestic help. [Mid-1800s] Also see live in , def. 1.
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live out of . Lead a lifestyle characterized by a particular item. This phrase appears in such idioms as live out of a suitcase , meaning “to travel so much that one has no time to unpack one's belongings,” or live out of cans , meaning “to eat only canned food for lack of other foods or time to prepare them.” For example, Traveling for months on end, he got very tired of living out of a suitcase , or We had neither gas nor electricity for a week and had to live out of cans .
Etymology
Origin of live-out
First recorded in 1965–70; by analogy with live-in
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.
"Lodgers have fewer rights than private renters with live-out landlords and landlords don't need to go to court to evict a lodger. But they are required to provide reasonable notice before asking them to leave the property."
From BBC
Recruited as a teenager, she had grown up in my younger sister's family, had become a live-out help, married, had children and funnelled nieces and nephews into service with various branches of my clan.
From BBC
The incident in question was a fight that broke out July 22 at a fraternity live-out house just off the WSU campus in Pullman.
From Seattle Times
I was working in a small German town as a live-out governess to a rich family.
From Salon
Live-in caregivers earned $7.69 an hour, compared with $10 for live-out caregivers.
From New York 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.
