wait out

Idioms  

1. Delay until the end of something, as in They waited out the war in Paris. This expression comes from baseball, where it alludes to the batter refraining from swinging at pitches in the hope of being walked (getting to first base on balls). It was first recorded in 1909 and was transferred to other activities by the 1930s.

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Example Sentences

One of her sons living abroad persuaded her to leave to wait out the war.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 22, 2026

That means farmers that don’t have the fertilizers already delivered won’t be able to wait out the price spikes.

From Barron's • Mar. 13, 2026

I had been driving west through downtown and stopped in Chinatown to wait out the morning congestion in a new café that used to be an old bistro.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2026

They migrate thousands of kilometres to find stable sea ice during Antarctic summer to wait out what is called a "catastrophic moult" every year.

From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026

I sit next to him—Dad motions that he’s going to wait out in the hall so we can talk.

From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Related Words

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• bleed
• encounter
• experience
• feel
• go through
• have
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• receive
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• take
• undergo