out

/aʊt/ adverb

Definition

› WORKPLACE away from the main office, etc. in order to do a particular job: She is out on a service call, but will be back in about an hour.

› WORKPLACE absent from the place where you work: He is out of the office right now. I will be out for the rest of the morning. He has been out sick all week.

› available for the public to buy: A new version of this phone has just come out.

› not working: The power has been out for two hours.

› not accurate: Our estimates were only out by a few dollars. Those sales figures were way out.

› (also out on strike) HR, WORKPLACE taking part in a strike (= refusing to work): The assembly workers have been out for a month. Union members voted unanimously to go out on strike.

out of action › not able to be used: The elevators were out of action and we had to walk up to his office.

out of sth › if you are out of something, you do not have it: We're completely out of toner for the printer. › from a particular group: Four out of five broadband users don't know how fast their connections are.

out of the box › if something can be used out of the box, it can be used immediately, without a lot of effort being needed to prepare it: These solutions work straight out of the box. an out-of-the-box training program

(Definition of out adverb from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)