walk out

walk out (third-person singular simple present walks out, present participle walking out, simple past and past participle walked out)

1. (intransitive, labour) To stage a walkout or strike.

   Synonyms: strike, go on strike, walk off the job

   Postal workers are set to walk out tomorrow if contract negotiations fail.

   • 2020 December 2, Philip Haigh, “A winter of discontent caused by threat of union action”, in Rail, page 62:

     While the RMT and ScotRail bash heads over the pay freeze, RMT guards based at Glasgow Central are already walking out, with strikes planned in a dispute over "abuse of disciplinary procedures".

2. (intransitive) To leave suddenly, especially as a form of protest.
3. (intransitive, dated) To go out with; to be romantically involved.

   Synonyms: date, go out, see

   The maidservant has been walking out with the butcher’s man.

   • 1939 April 14, John Steinbeck, chapter 28, in The Grapes of Wrath, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, page 438:

     Well, her an' your boy Al, they're a-walkin' out ever' night. An' Aggie’s a good healthy girl that oughta have a husban', else she might git in trouble.

   • 2005, Sebastian Barry, A Long Long Way‎, New York: Viking, Part 3, Chapter 19, page 244:

     And Maud, surely seventeen by now. Did she have a boy to walk out with?

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To go for a walk outdoors; to go out.
   • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), , The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, , London: W Taylor , →OCLC, page 160:

     kept off the Sun so effectually, that I could walk out in the hottest of the Weather with greater Advantage than I could before in the coolest, and when I had no need of it, cou’d close it and carry it under my Arm.

   • 1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 118, 4 May, 1751, Volume 4, London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752, p. 161,

     The Turks are said to hear with wonder a proposal to walk out, only that they may walk back; and enquire, why any man should labour for nothing:

   • 1813 January 27, , chapter XVI, in Pride and Prejudice: , volume III, London: ">…] for T Egerton, , →OCLC, page 270:

     The gentlemen arrived early; and, before Mrs. Bennet had time to tell him of their having seen his aunt , Bingley, who wanted to be alone with Jane, proposed their all walking out. It was agreed to.

   • 1849, Currer Bell , “Shirley and Caroline”, in Shirley. A Tale.  In Three Volumes.">…], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., , →OCLC, pages 3–4:

     “Do you walk out this morning, my dear?” / “Yes, I shall go to the Rectory, and seek and find Caroline Helstone, and make her take some exercise: she shall have a breezy walk over Nunnely Common.”

   • 1871, George Eliot , chapter V, in Middlemarch , volume I, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book I, page 76:

     The day was damp, and they were not going to walk out, so they both went up to their sitting-room;

   • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 130:

     long the edge of Regent's Park there were as many silent couples "walking out" together under the scattered gas-lamps as ever there had been.

5. (transitive) To accompany (someone) as they leave a house or other building.

   Synonym: see out

6. (transitive) To continue or persist in carrying (something) out or following through (with something); to persevere.
   • 2013, Linda Mobley, Sold Out: My Journey to a More Intimate Relationship with God:

     Too many of us want to believe God for a miracle rather than trust him to bring us through. For some situations, healing takes time, and we have just got to walk it out.

7. (transitive, weightlifting) To step away with when carrying the weight in order not to hit the rack it was lifted off from during execution of the exercise.

   Antonym: walk in

• walk out on

• outwalk