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Glite Dictionary
to dine out

to dine out

8 2.3
To eat a meal at a restaurant or someone else's home instead of your own home
  • phrasal verb
  • /daɪn aʊt/
translation icon : cenar fuera
  • My friends and I decided to dine out at a new Italian restaurant this weekend.
  • dine out more often

Examples

  • I gotta meet people when I'm dining out, huh?

    Carlito's Way: Rise to Power (2005)

  • We eat most meals at home, but we really like the dining out experience.

  • You just have to be creative, and then even dining out can still be an adventure.

    Blog text (31)

  • Ms. Hungry in Heels has been dining out all over Colorado for over 30 years.

    Blog text (11)

  • Some children love to dine out, while others want to have games and fun activities on their birthday.

    Blog text (11)

  • I think being vegetarian makes it very hard to dine out, but I find that a HUGE positive.

    Blog text (31)

  • Our family is gluten-free, and I would love to have another option for dining out safely.

    Blog text (31)

  • Sometimes, you want to dine out even when you're on a diet.

    Blog text (2)

  • After working all week, they love to dine out and try different cuisines on Friday nights.

  • We usually dine out for lunch during the weekdays to break up our busy schedules.

Synonyms

to eat out
vsto dine out
35 1.3

To have a meal at a restaurant instead of at home

includes meals at another person's home as well as meals at places that serve food
to go out for dinner
vsto dine out
16 1.1

Leave home to eat dinner at a restaurant

is used for any meal or at another person's home, not only evening meals
to try a restaurant
vsto dine out
1.5

To visit and eat at a restaurant to see what it is like

is used for eating a meal without the intention of testing the place

Antonyms

to dine in
3 3.0

To eat a meal at home instead of going to a restaurant

to cook at home
2 1.0

Make meals in your own home to eat

How Public

to dine out
8 2.3
to dine in
3 3.0

Surface Forms

dine out infinitive
dined out past
dined out past participle
dining out present participle
dines out third person singular

Morphology

dine + out

The meaning 'to eat a meal away from one's home' is directly and compositionally derived from 'dine' (to eat the main meal) + 'out' (away from the interior/home). This verb + particle pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The phrase dine out comes from a simple image: dine means to eat and out means away from your home. So, dine out means 'to eat a meal away from home', for example at a restaurant or at someone else's house.