out of

English

Alternative forms

• outta (colloquial)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaʊt əv/, (before a consonant usually) /ˈaʊtə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊtə

Preposition

out of

1. Expressing motion away, literal or figurative; opposed to into.
   1. From the inside to the outside of.

      The audience came out of the theater.

      The cat jumped out of the basket.

   2. So as no longer to be in a given condition or state.

      I have fallen out of love with you.

      They will soon be out of business.

      This train will be going out of service at the next station.

   3. (informal) From a thing or or place as a source, place of origin etc.

      He ate out of a big bowl.

      Turns out he's some rapper out of New York called Buster Bigmouth.

      • 1997, New York, volume 30, number 31, page 33:

        Mike Morgillo, a cop out of the Bronx borough command — who is married to a detective — says he's sick of sitting around other cops' backyards hearing the same old he-shot, she-shot stories.

   4. (nautical) Stating the port in which a boat has been registered.

      There's the Titanic out of Liverpool.

   5. Taken from among; expressing a fraction of (a larger number).

      Only three out of a thousand are born with this rare disease.

      Out of the entire class, only Cynthia completed the work.

      • 2007 September 27, Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood, spoken by Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), distributed by Paramount Vantage & Miramax Films:

        Out of all men beg for a chance to drill your lots, maybe one in twenty will be oilmen.

   6. (now chiefly horse breeding) Born from a given mother (cf. by).

      She's a lovely little filly, by Big Lad, out of Damsel in Distress.

2. Expressing position outside, literal or figurative; opposed to in.
   1. Not within a given space, area etc.

      His feet rested out of the water.

      Is your mother out of hospital?

   2. Not in (a given state, condition).

      I'm rather out of practice right now.

      He cannot see you because he's feeling out of spirits today.

   3. Without; no longer in possession of.

      Sorry, we're out of bread.

      • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, Barnes & Noble, published 2005, page 276:

        Once out of the farm the approach of poverty would be sure.

3. From a given cause or motivation.

   I laughed out of embarrassment.

   She only did it out of love for him.

   She asked the question out of mere curiosity.

4. From a given material as means of construction.

   It's made out of mahogany.

5. (informal) In.

   He works out of the main office.

   • 2007, Raven Womack, The Raven's Flight Book of Incense, Oils, Potions and Brews, page 107:

     This company, based out of England has a full line of magickal products but I can really on comment on their charcoal incense.

   • 2015, Alan C. Turley, Urban Culture: Exploring Cities and Cultures, page 81:

     The first major radio networks were based out of New York, and these chains of radio stations would broadcast the same programs that would originate from New York to its subsidiary stations across the nation.

Synonyms

• exterior to (2)
• external to (2, 3)
• outside of (2, 3)
• without (Scotland) (3)
• (expressing a fraction or a ratio): from, of, for

Derived terms

• (having come out of): out of nowhere
• (not part of): out of reach
• out of place

Adverb

out of (not comparable)

1. (often informal) expression of how distant a person or an object is.

   Five meters out of the ocean

Translations

References

• Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Bounded landmarks", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8