sell out

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See also: sellout and sell-out

English

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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sell out (third-person singular simple present sells out, present participle selling out, simple past and past participle sold out)

  1. To sell all of a product that is in stock.
    Synonym: run out
    They sold out of concert posters yesterday and won't get another shipment until next week.
    • 1977 August 27, Steve Savage, Susan "Suki" Eagan, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Suki, But Were Too Distracted In Chaps to Ask Her”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 8, page 8:
      Like when Rosario and I have a really on day, I mean, we could sell this place out of beer, you know.
    • 2021 March 24, Stefanie Foster, “Hidden London: Old Tube on YouTube”, in RAIL, number 927, page 41:
      By the end of July [2020], Brompton Road station was available as a virtual tour and tickets were selling out fast.
  2. (intransitive) To abandon or betray one's supporters or principles to seek profit or other personal advantage.
    It used to be a pleasant little community, until the leaders sold out to the developers.
    • 2013, “Asshole”, in The Marshall Mathers LP 2, performed by Eminem:
      It's like tellin' Gwen Stefani she sold out / ‘Cause I was tryna leave no doubt
    • 2019 March 6, Soraya Roberts, “Reality Bites Captured Gen X With Perfect Irony”, in The Atlantic‎[1]:
      […] Lelaina is also attempting to choose between two men who represent her divergent prospects: to sell out or not to sell out. That particular quandary was styled as a hallmark of Generation X, and Reality Bites was perhaps the most polished of a bunch of mainstream attempts to portray the ambivalent cohort.
    • 2023 July 19, Caspar Salmon, “Has Barbie killed the indie director? Why credible film-makers are selling out”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN:
      But the recent writer and actor strikes in the US show that selling out is not just a question of personal ethics, but an industry-wide concern. A director’s decision to align themselves with these Goliaths of entertainment has consequences; makes money for the big guy, in opposition to fostering an industry where smaller films and creators have more opportunities.
  3. (transitive) To betray (a person), usually a close friend or family member, for personal gain.
    I'll kill him if I see him again; he sold me out.
  4. To sell one's business (with a connotative emphasis on entirety and finality).
    The owners long resisted buyout offers, but when they were ready to retire, they finally sold out to a competitor.
    1. (figurative) To commit or abandon oneself entirely (to a cause, a team, etc.).
  5. (historical, military) To sell one's commission.
    • 1857, Washington Irving, Life of George Washington, volume 2, page 267:
      After the peace of Versailles he resided in England; but, about three years before the breaking out of the Revolution, he sold out his commission in the army and emigrated to New York.
  6. (intransitive, archaic) To hurry out.

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