Out, damned spot!

Cultural

A sentence from the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare, spoken by Lady Macbeth, the wife of the title character. Her husband has killed the king of Scotland at her urging, but her guilt over the murder gradually drives her insane. When she speaks this line she is sleepwalking, and she imagines that a spot of the king's blood stains her hand.

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.

Out damned spot! out, I say!—One, two, why, then 'tis time to do't.—Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord! a soldier, and afear'd?

From Sleep Walking and Moon Walking A Medico-Literary Study by Sadger, J.

"Out, damned spot! will these hands never be clean?"

From Hanover; Or The Persecution of the Lowly A Story of the Wilmington Massacre. by Thorne, Jack

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023