English

Verb

black out ‎(phrasal verb)

1. (transitive) To censor or cover up by writing over with black ink.
   • 2006, Calton Lewis, Wake Island: The Story of a Civilian Pow at Niigata, Japan 1941-1945

     Seigel was able to send two post cards home in 44 months via the Red Cross. The first one was completely blacked out by the Japanese censor's pen. The second one he sent, Seigel wrote that he weighed his "usual weight of 130". Seigel's usual weight was 230 so the family could see that he had been severely starved while in captivity. Seigel had at least triumphed over the Japanese censor and his black pen.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To censor or cover up.
   • 1979, Chris de Burgh, The Devil's Eye

     I have blacked out your television, every station in the world is mine.

3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To lose consciousness; to suffer a blackout.
   • 1956, Andre Norton, Plague Ship

     And they were not surprised when Tang Ya reeled into the mess, his face livid and drawn with pain. Rip and Dane got him to his cabin before he blacked out. But all they could learn from him during the interval before he lost consciousness was that his head was bursting and he couldn't stand it. Over his limp body they stared at one another bleakly.

4. (transitive) To make dark.
   • 1924, Richard Connell, The Most Dangerous Game

     Bleak darkness was blacking out the sea and jungle when Rainsford sighted the lights. He came upon them as he turned a crook in the coast line; and his first thought was that be had come upon a village, for there were many lights.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 14, in The China Governess:

     Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall.  Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.

   • 1943, Pittsburgh Press May 10 1943, Press Serial Story: Girl In A Blackout

     The Venetian blinds and the drapes, she thought, would completely black out the room from the ocean side.

Synonyms

(lose consciousness):

• pass out

(make dark):

Translations

See also

• brown out
• white out