sing out

See also: singout

English

Verb

sing out (third-person singular simple present sings out, present participle singing out, simple past sang out, past participle sung out)

1. To cry out, e.g. when in pain.
   • 1848, The Autobiography of a Working Man, page 285:

     “But I have known men sing out dreadfully when punished; if they had got enough of rum, it would have supported them, and they would not have sung out.” “Not one drop for me, Charley Hunter; I shall not sing out, I promise you, if they cut me to pieces

   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 134:

     “My lad,” said Captain Cuttle, “don’t you sing out afore you’re hurt.

   • 1948 November and December, “By Broad Gauge to Cornwall”, in Railway Magazine, page 357:

     Didcot had one definite pleasure. We knew that little boys would be going up and down the platform singing out, "Banbury cakes! Banbury cakes!" And mother would crane out and buy some, just to encourage the crew.

2. (nautical) To call out; yell.
   • 1836, Richard Weston, A Visit to the United States and Canada in 1833, page 9:

     The pilot would sing out, “Ready about ship,” and the seamen would return answer, “Ay, ay, Sir,”—again he would sing out, “All ready,” and would be answered with “All ready, Sir.”

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “ch. 36”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     Vehemently pausing, he [Ahab] cried:—"What do ye do when ye see a whale, men?" "Sing out for him!" was the impulsive rejoinder from a score of clubbed voices.

   • 1854, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the Mast, page 143:

     This was the first time I had taken a weather earing, and I felt not a little proud to sit astride of the weather yard-arm, pass the earing, and sing out, “Haul out to leeward!”

3. To start singing.
   • 1971, Pete Townshend, The Song is Over:

     I’m gonna sing out: / I sing my song to the wide open spaces, / I sing my heart out to the infinite sea!

Anagrams

• Guintos, ousting, outings, outsing, sign out, sign-out, signout, tousing