ourselves. (=regained consciousness) 4 (all) by ourselves a) alone; without help: We did it all by ourselves. b) alone; without anyone else: We walked home by ourselves. → see YOURSELF (USAGE) 5 to ourselves for our private use; not shared: a bathroom to ourselves
Ouse, the /uːz/ 1 also the Great Ouse a river in eastern England which begins in Northamptonshire and flows northeast to the WASH 2 a river in northeast England which flows southeast to the Humber
oust /aust/ v [T(from)] to force (someone) out, and perhaps take their place: She ousted him as manager/from his position.
ous-ter /'austər/ n AmE an act of ousting
out¹ /aut/ adj, adv [F] 1 away from the inside; in or to the outdoors, the outside etc: Open the bag and take the money out. | Blood poured out from the wound. | It's not in my pocket – it must have fallen out. | Shut the door to keep the wind out. | He put his tongue out at her. | She opened the cage and let the bird out. (=let it go free) | I went to the bank and drew out £100 (=took it from my account) | I opened the box and out jumped a mouse. (note word order) → see OUTSIDE (USAGE) 2 a) away from home or from a building: Let's have an evening out at the theatre. | It's rather cold out. | They've invited me out for dinner. | She stays out late at nights. | tramps sleeping out (in the park) b) not in one's usual place; absent: I'm afraid Mr Jones is out/has just gone out. | BrE The dockers came out (=on STRIKE) in sympathy with the miners. 3 away from land, a town, or one's own country: They live right out in the country. | to go out to Africa 4 a) away from a surface or edge: I tore my coat on a nail that was sticking out from the wall. | a piece of land jutting out into the sea b) away from a set of things: Pick out the best of the apples. 5 to a number of people or in all directions: to hand out drinks/exam papers | to spread out the cloth | to share out the profits 6 a) so as to be clearly seen, shown, understood etc: Think/Plan it out properly. | Their secret is out. | The sun came out. | Are the daffodils out yet? (=fully open) | The black trees stood out against the snow. | When does his new book come out? (=when will it be on sale in the shops?) | A quarrel broke out. b) especially AmE open and not secretive, especially about homosexuality (HOMOSEXUAL): He isn't out to his parents yet. (=they don't know he's homosexual) | Her husband sympathizes with our cause, but he isn't very out about it. → see also OUT⁴; compare CLOSET² 7 in a loud voice; aloud: Read/Call out the names. | (fig.) If you disagree you should speak out. (=say what you think) 8 completely; so as to be finished: to clean out the room | I'm tired out. | He'll be back before the month is out. (=is ended) | Let's try and sort out this mess. 9 so as to no longer exist: to wash out the dirty marks | They had to cut short their holiday when their money ran out. 10 a) (of a fire or light) no longer burning: The fire's gone out. | Please put your cigarette out. b) infml (of a machine) no longer working; not in ORDER: The elevator's out again. 11 (so as to be) no longer conscious or awake: He was knocked out in the second round of the fight. | I went out like a light (=fell asleep) as soon as I got into bed. 12 no longer in a position of power: The Republicans are out. | They were voted out at the last election. 13 no longer fashionable: Long skirts went out last year. 14 completely unsuitable or impossible: That suggestion's absolutely out. 15 (of a guess or sum, or the person responsible for it) wrong: The bill was £4 out. | You're badly out in your calculations. 16 a) (of a player or team in a game such as cricket or BASEBALL) no longer allowed to take part, according to the rules: Sussex are all out for 351. | Andrews is out at second base. | Gooch was 84 not out. b) (of the ball in a game such as tennis or BASKETBALL) outside the line → opposite IN; see also OUT-OF-BOUNDS 17 (of the TIDE) away from the coast; low 18 BrE (after a superlative) ever; existing: He's the stupidest man out. | He's out and away (=much) the stupidest man I know. 19 out and about (of someone who has been ill) able to get up and leave the house → compare up and about (UP⁵) 20 out for trying to get: Don't trust him – he's only out for your money. 21 out to trying to: Be careful; he's out to get (=harm) you. | They're out to win. 22 out to lunch AmE humor slightly mad; confused: Sometimes he's really out to lunch with his reorganization ideas. | She wasn't just out to lunch, this woman was out to every meal. (=quite mad) 23 Out with it! infml Say it! 24 Out you go! infml Go out!
out of /ˈ/ prep 1 from inside; away from: We're moving out of our flat. | to jump out of bed | to walk out of the room 2 from a state of: to wake up out of a deep sleep | We're out of danger (=safe) now. | The car went out of control. 3 beyond the limits of: out of sight/earshot (=to where a thing cannot be seen/heard) 4 from among: Three out of four people choose 'Silver Fox' soap! 5 not having; without: We're nearly out of petrol. | He's been out of work/out of a job (=unable to get a job) for six months. 6 because of: I came out of interest. 7 (shows what something is made from): made out of wood 8 tech having (the stated female animal, especially a horse) as a mother: Golden Trumpet, by Golden Rain out of Silver Trumpet → compare BY↑ 9 out of it (all) a) lonely and unhappy because one is not included in something: I felt rather out of it in France because I can't speak French. b) infml not thinking clearly 10 out of one's head/mind infml mad → see also out of the blue (BLUE²), out of the question (QUESTION↑), out of sorts (SORT↑), out of this world (WORLD)
out² prep infml (used for showing an outward movement): He went out the door.
out³ adj 1 [A] directed outwards; used for sending or going out: Put the letter in the out tray (BrE)/out box (AmE). → opposite IN 2 out-and-out complete; total: an out-and-out lie
out$^{4}$ v [T] infml 1 to throw out; EJECT 2 to tell something that a person would rather keep secret, especially to declare (a person) publicly to be HOMOSEXUAL: Gay activists threatened to out several MPs 3 [1] to become known: Murder will out. (=cannot be kept secret) | Truth will out.
out $ ^{5} $ n 1 [S] an excuse for leaving an activity or for avoiding blame → see also INS AND OUTS 2 [C] (in games such as BASEBALL) an act of a player becoming out: Is that one out or two? | That isn't an out, he dropped the ball.
out- → see WORD FORMATION TABLE
out·age /'autɪdʒ/ n a period when something normally supplied is missing, especially electricity: a power outage
out·back /'aʊtbæk/ n [the+S] the part of AUSTRALIA that is far away from cities
out·bal·ance /aut'bæləns/ v [T] to be of greater weight of importance than; OUTWEIGH
out-bid /aut'bid/ v -bid, present participle -bidding [T] to offer a higher price than (someone else) especially at an AUCTION: We badly wanted the cottage but I'm afraid we were outbid.
out-board motor /,autbo:d 'mauter' |-bo:rd-/ n a motor fixed to the back end of a small boat → compare INBOARD
out·bound /'autbaund/ adj moving away from the speaker or the starting point: outbound traffic at the beginning of a holiday weekend → opposite INBOUND especially AmE
out·box, out box /'autboks|l-ba:ks/ n 1 the place in a computer email program where messages that you have not sent yet are stored → compare INBOX 2 AmE ∥ out tray BrE a container on an office desk that is used to hold letters, documents etc that have been dealt with and are ready to be taken away by someone such as a secretary
out·break /'autbreik/ n [(of)] a sudden appearance or beginning of something bad: an outbreak of disease | sporadic outbreaks of fighting → see also BREAK OUT
out·building /'aut,bildɪŋ/ also outhouse BrE — n a smaller building forming part of a group with a larger mair building: the farm and its outbuildings
out·burst /'autbɜːstɪl-3ɪr-/ n [ɒf] a sudden powerful expression of a activity: outbursts of gunfire b) feeling: outbursts of laughter/weeping → compare OUTPOURINGS; see also BURST OUT
out·cast /'autka:st\|-kæst/ n, adj (a person) forced from his/her home or without friends: an outcast from society → see also CAST OUT
out·caste /'autka:st|l-kaest/ n, adj (a person) not, or no longer, a member of a fixed social class (CASTE) in India
out·class /aut'klɑːs\|-'klæs/ v [T] to be very much better than: She outclasses all of us at tennis.
out·come /'autkʌm/ n [(of) usually sing.] an effect; result: We are anxiously awaiting the outcome of their discussion. → see also COME OUT
out·crop /'autkrop|-kra:p/ n a rock or group of rocks which appears at the surface of the ground