286. ¿Qué significa out?

Como era de esperar, la mayor parte de los usos de out tienen el significado contrario a los de in. Donde la partícula in significa ‘en casa’, out significa ‘fuera de casa’:

Calvin’s out, and I don’t know when he’ll be back.

Do you fancy eating out tonight? There’s a new pizza place we could try.

Once she realized he’d been having an affair, she threw him out.

Generalmente, estamos más interesados en saber dónde está la gente que en saber dónde no está, pero el trabajo, el hospital y la cárcel suelen ser excepciones a esa regla:

Sorry, but Dr Dreyfuss is usually out to lunch at that time. How about at 3 o’clock?

He came out last week, but the doctors still don’t know what was wrong with him.

They’re letting him out early for good behaviour?

A menudo, out hace referencia al movimiento desde dentro de un lugar hacia el exterior, ya sea directa o indirectamente:

Fran leapt out of bed, and ran to the shower.

The film was so bad that we walked out after an hour.

Standing in the supermarket check-out, I realized I’d forgotten to buy eggs.

Las cosas también se pueden desplazar hacia fuera a partir de un punto central, con frecuencia en muchas direcciones:

There was a guy giving out flyers for a new club that’s opening this weekend.

Too much advertising sends out the message that being thin means being happy.

It’s not a government hand-out! I’ve paid my taxes for 15 years, so I’m entitled to some help ( hand-out es como una limosna).

Ese movimiento hacia fuera a menudo da a entender la extensión, el despliegue o la organización de cosas:

The cat was stretched out asleep on the bed.

Joe sat with his books spread out before him.

The layout of the website is not good, meaning it’s not easy to find what you want.

La información, especialmente los secretos y los sentimientos, también fluye hacia fuera a partir de una fuente central:

That’s it. Have a good cry and let it all out.

I don’t know how he found out, but he did.

Many employees are afraid to speak out about the problem for fear of losing their jobs.

Como la información es vital para solucionar los problemas, out también describe la resolución de un problema:

They’ve had some problems in their marriage, but they’ve always managed to sort them out.

It took the plumber ages to even work out where the water was coming from.

We need to figure out what we’re going to do for Christmas. Your parents or mine?

En un plano más físico, así como in se asocia con la idea de inserción, out se asocia con la de extracción:

I need to take some more money out of the bank/the cash machine/ATM.

Jeff poured himself out a brandy for the shock.

No obstante, si se extrae demasiado de algo las reservas se agotan:

We ran out of petrol about 45 miles away from the nearest petrol station.

Tickets went on sale at 9am, and had sold out by half past.

I’m tired out! Looking after those kids has absolutely worn me out.

Nuestra consciencia también puede ser extraída o agotarse:

Once the children were in bed, they both went out like a light.

She hit her head and knocked herself out.

As soon as he saw the blood, he passed out.

Finalmente, donde in expresa inclusión, out transmite la idea de exclusión o de no formar parte de algo:

Hamburg has pulled out of the race to host the Olympics.

I don’t want to miss out on seeing the kids grow up.

She wanted to get her hair cut short, but I managed to talk her out of it (convencerla de no hacerlo, quitárselo de la cabeza).