out of print
13
3.7
- idiom
:
descatalogado
- Several of them wrote worthy, hard-won books that are now long out of print.
- out-of-print books
- out-of-print titles
- go out of print
So the first is there's an out of print book.
- So the first is there's an out of print book.
Examples
-
While her dances continue to be revived, many of her books are out of print.
Academic text (1994) -
I believe it went out of print a few years ago.
Fiction book (1992) -
It's never been out of print.
-
It's been out of print for 20 years.
-
It's been out of print for years.
-
That book is out of print.
-
Curtis estimates that there are more than a million titles out of print.
Academic text (2000) -
Schiller had written four novels, and all of them were out of print.
Fiction book (1997) -
The trilogy, though not difficult to locate in Stockholm's used bookstores, had long been out of print.
Academic text (2000) -
Many readers are disappointed when they discover that their favorite novel is out of print.
Synonyms
81
3.4
Not able to be used, reached, or bought
No longer produced or sold, for example books
No longer made or offered
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'no longer available from the publisher' is directly derivable from combining 'out' (no longer in/available) with 'print' (being available in printed form); 'of' is a grammatical linker. This compositional pattern ('out of' + noun) is common in English and across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The phrase out of print comes from the world of printing. When a publisher had no more copies coming from the press, a title was literally out of print, so today it means a book is 'no longer available' from the publisher.