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to eat out

to eat out

35 1.3
To have a meal at a restaurant instead of at home
  • phrasal verb
  • /it aʊt/
translation icon : comer fuera
  • We eat out a lot more than we have to.
  • eat out frequently
  • eat out more
  • frequency of eating out

Yeah, like I hit my macros and I ate out all day yesterday.

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Examples

  • We're not likely to be eating out much this time.

  • Food is amazing and being able to eat out every day is a huge luxury and I enjoy it.

  • I travel, I am always eating out, but I find a way to stay in shape no matter what, right?

  • OK, for example, if you eat out every so often, what would it look like and feel like to double your spending on it?

  • On the way back here, your mom was saying how much she likes eating out.

  • We ate out last night.

  • On the remaining two days, they would eat out or at her mother's.

    Academic text (2006)
  • And so was I, and we ate out whenever we could afford to.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Well, I can't afford to eat out anymore.

  • We're going to eat out tonight at our favorite Italian restaurant.

Synonyms

to go out for dinner
vsto eat out
16 1.1

Leave home to eat dinner at a restaurant

is used for meals at restaurants or away from home, not only dinner
to dine out
vsto eat out
8 2.3

To eat a meal at a restaurant or someone else's home instead of your own home

is broader, covering meals at any place away from home
to try a restaurant
vsto eat out
1.5

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

is about having a meal away from home without testing the place

Antonyms

31 1.1

Have a meal at home instead of going to a restaurant

Make meals in your own home to eat

How Fancy

fine dining
14 3.9
to eat out
35 1.3
cafe
206 1.0
fast food
111 1.0

Surface Forms

eat out infinitive
ate out past
eaten out past participle
eating out present participle
eats out third person singular

Morphology

eat + out

The meaning 'to have a meal away from home/at a restaurant' is directly derivable from combining 'eat' (to consume food) with 'out' (away from the interior/home); the particle 'out' signals location away from home, so the composite meaning is predictable. This verb + particle composition is common cross-linguistically and would be understood by a B1 learner who knows both constituents, despite a minor possible ambiguity with literally eating outdoors.

Etymology

Eat out comes from the simple idea of leaving home to eat: eat + out. People would go to a restaurant and literally eat 'out' of their home, so it means 'to have a meal at a restaurant or away from home'.