black out

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black out (third-person singular simple present blacks out, present participle blacking out, simple past and past participle blacked out)

1. (transitive) To censor or cover up by writing over with black ink.
   • 2006, Calton Lewis, Wake Island: The Story of a Civilian Pow at Niigata, Japan 1941-1945

     Seigel was able to send two post cards home in 44 months via the Red Cross. The first one was completely blacked out by the Japanese censor's pen. The second one he sent, Seigel wrote that he weighed his "usual weight of 130". Seigel's usual weight was 230 so the family could see that he had been severely starved while in captivity. Seigel had at least triumphed over the Japanese censor and his black pen.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To censor or cover up.
   • 1979, Chris de Burgh (lyrics and music), “The Devil's Eye”, in Crusader:

     I have blacked out your television, every station in the world is mine.

   • 2022 October 27, Simon Parkin, “README.txt by Chelsea Manning review – secrets and spies”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     At times, README.txt is vague; some sections have been blacked out, presumably on legal advice.

3. (intransitive) To lose consciousness; to suffer a blackout.

   Antonyms: black in, come to

   • 1944 June 3, Charles A. Lindbergh, The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh, New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1970, page 839:

     I am blacking out—ease the stick forward slightly—the sky is clear again—I turn out over water—reverse turn—there are antiaircraft on the island below—I reverse again—and again.

   • 1956, Andre Norton, Plague Ship:

     And they were not surprised when Tang Ya reeled into the mess, his face livid and drawn with pain. Rip and Dane got him to his cabin before he blacked out. But all they could learn from him during the interval before he lost consciousness was that his head was bursting and he couldn't stand it. Over his limp body they stared at one another bleakly.

4. (transitive) To cause (someone) to lose consciousness.
5. (transitive) To obscure in darkness.
   • 1924, Richard Connell, The Most Dangerous Game:

     Bleak darkness was blacking out the sea and jungle when Rainsford sighted the lights. He came upon them as he turned a crook in the coast line; and his first thought was that be had come upon a village, for there were many lights.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall.  Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.

   • 1943 May 10, “Press Serial Story: Girl In A Blackout”, in Pittsburgh Press:

     The Venetian blinds and the drapes, she thought, would completely black out the room from the ocean side.

6. (intransitive) To be in a state of blackout, as a building, a city, a ship.

   The countryside blacked out to avoid helping enemy aircraft.

• (lose consciousness): faint, pass out
• (make dark): darken