Revision as of 04:26, 23 May 2013

4 basic meanings, or maybe 7

lack, absence, manque, panne

• sold out, a sellout, voted out, outmoded, out of order (vending machine)
• We ran out of gas.
• You're out of luck.
• Jerzy flunked out of college twice.

à ou vers l'extérieur

• Go play outside, but don't stay out too long, we're eating out tonight.
• Let's get take-out tacos and crunch in the park.
• outbound traffic (vers l'extérieur), outbox, output
• Get out your notebooks. get a shout out to...
• Keep out!
• No way! Get out of here! (Absolument pas, vas t'en!) ou en mode sit-com: "sérieux?! c'est pas vrai".

hors (de)

• out of date
• out of the question
• out of order: (1) break the rules of parliamentary procedure (law, justice), (2) en panne
• out of bounds (hors jeu)
• Think outside of the box.
• cast out, outcasts, outliers
• throw STH out = jeter qqch

hors pair / peerless / dominant

• outclass, outperform, outshout, outfox

completely (extension)

• fill out a form. (UK = fill in)
• the outline of a lesson plan (outline = plan)
• Let them fight it out, we've got better things to do.
• She lived out her life in a home in the kingdom of the sea.
• Check this out. (sens: regarde de bien plus près, c'est curieux...)
• The problem got sorted out. (resolved)

Souvent les verbes à particules peuvent avoir des sens radicalement différents dans différents contextes selon le sens qui prime (parmi les 5 ci-dessus, par exemple)

• come out (sortir, paraitre, se savoir, être révélé / rendu publique)
• give out (distribuer, (r)émettre (un prix, un subvention), lâcher, s'épuiser)
• hold out (tendre, résister, durer)

See this blogpost for a few more examples if you're interested.

combines with other prepositions

• without: fr sans la sine, ru bez', de ohne, ...
• about (Old English abutan, earlier onbutan "on the outside of," from on + be "by" + utan "outside," from ut (out)). etym-online
• throughout: à travers time or space