peter out

1. Dwindle or diminish and come to an end, as in Their enthusiasm soon petered out. The origin of this usage is unknown, but one authority suggests it may refer to the apostle Peter, whose enthusiastic support of Jesus quickly diminished so that he denied knowing him three times during the night after Jesus's arrest. [Mid-1800s]

Example Sentences

She doesn’t want to put Basil and Peter out of work, but the environmental case is too pressing to ignore.

From Los Angeles Times

The Feeding of the 5,001: If Jesus had known how greedy that last guy was going to be, he’d have sent Peter out for another fish.

From Washington Post

He sat Peter out for the rest of the activity and had a talk with him.

From Literature

Yaw Ngoha was 19 and had a basic school diploma when he followed his older brother Peter out of one of Ghana’s poorest regions to Bawdie.

From Reuters

I couldn’t refrain from sounding Peter out on the subject, and he instantly replied that Dussel had been lying.

From Literature

Related Words

• abate 
• die out 
• ebb 
• evaporate 
• fade 
• recede 
• tail away www.thesaurus.com
• tail off 
• wane