🚫 To cancel promise 🚗 To reverse out

to back out

21 3.2

Move a car backwards out of a place like a garage

phrasal verb
/bæk aʊt/

: dar marcha atrás

To create an instant studio, I first backed my car out of the garage.
backed out of the driveway
backed the car out of the garage
the car backed out

And he tells tells us he's going to back out of his driveway.

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Examples

I watched her make her way to her car and slowly back out of the driveway.

Fiction book (1990)
And because of the spot in the road, it was only able to back out of the garage and now it's blocking traffic.

IMPAULSIVE
Now, just move in and start the car and back out.

Lucky Lady (1975)
Minutes later, a car backs out of the driveway and speeds down the street.

Fiction book (1994)
And he tells tells us he's going to back out of his driveway.

Anything Goes With James English
The BMW, with the three Mexicans inside, backed out of the space, turned, rolled forward, and was gone.

Fiction book (1991)
She carefully reversed her car to back out of the parking space without hitting the curb.
He had to back out of the driveway slowly to avoid the oncoming traffic.
Before leaving the party, he decided to back out of the narrow driveway that was packed with cars.

Synonyms

to back up

vsto back out

Specialized

477 2.7

Move backwards to make space or avoid something

is used for leaving a space by reversing, usually with a vehicle

to move back

vsto back out

388 1.7

To step away to an earlier place

focuses on reversing out of a space, usually while driving

to pull back

vsto back out

320 3.4

To move yourself and things backward from a place, person, or situation

refers to physically reversing to exit a space in a vehicle

Antonyms

to drive in

54 2.5

To arrive at a place by car

Surface Forms

back out infinitive

backed out past

backed out past participle

backing out present participle

backs out third person singular

Morphology

back + out

The meaning 'to move out of a space by reversing' is directly and compositionally derived from 'back' (to move backward) + 'out' (away from the interior). This motion verb + particle pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

Back out comes from the literal act of moving a car back and out of a space, like reversing out of a garage. So back out means 'to move out of a space by reversing'.