Skip to main content
checkout

checkout

35 1.0
A counter in a shop where customers pay for things
  • noun
  • /ˈtʃɛkaʊt/
translation icon : caja
  • After getting my prescription, I met Barb at a checkout lane and helped her unload the cart.
  • a checkout counter
  • checkout lines
  • supermarket checkout

Be sure to use promo code Theo at checkout to get free shipping.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • There's no crowd, no line at the checkout and they play good music.

  • Proceed to the checkout area.

  • "If I come to the checkout stand in my suit, it's no problem.

    Academic text (1999)
  • The decision to buy it would be an easier one if they were already at the checkout.

  • People are voting with their dollars at the checkout stands.

  • I'll meet you at the checkout.

  • One day in the grocery store, I saw him standing at the checkout stand.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • I am in the grocery store, standing in the checkout line.

    Academic text (2011)
  • At two in the afternoon, she saw Burt Mink in her checkout line, two carts back.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • When I finished shopping, I headed straight to the checkout to pay for my items.

Synonyms

checkout line
vscheckout
  • US
7 1.4

A line of people waiting to pay at a store

refers to the payment desk or area itself rather than the waiting people
checkout counter
vscheckout
5 1.3

A counter in a store where people pay for their items

is broader, covering the whole payment area as well as the desk

Compounds

7 1.4

A line of people waiting to pay at a store

A counter in a store where people pay for their items

The latest time a guest must leave a hotel room

Surface Forms

checkout singular
checkouts plural

Morphology

checkout = check out (semi-transparent) = check + out

The place sense (the counter where customers pay) is derived from the action 'check out', but understanding the shift from action to place requires an extra inferential step.

Etymology

Checkout combines check and out; think of check as 'to record or confirm' (like a checklist) and out as 'complete'. So a checkout is the place where you finish and pay for your shopping.