takeout

Etymology

It is formed from English take + out, as a noun and adjective use of the phrasal verb take out.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The OED classes it as a conversion of the verb phrase,^[2] and the word is also written take-out.^[3][5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Designed to be taken out, of a mechanical device that can be pulled or folded out when needed: 1908, in a Sears, Roebuck catalogue.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word was first an adjective for things that could be removed or folded away (1908).^[2][3] From 1914 it was also a bridge term for a bid that takes one's partner out of a bid, used as a noun too.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the noun, the act of taking out, to 1917,^[6] and Dictionary.com places it in 1915–20.^[4] The sense now most common, food prepared at a restaurant but eaten elsewhere, is dated to 1925 by Etymonline;^[3] the OED's first quotations for it are from 1940 for the food itself and 1941 for the adjective, and it labels the sense originally and chiefly North American.^[2] The British equivalent is takeaway.^[3][2] In the United States the noun also came to mean a tax on betting winnings at horse races (1939) and a long, in-depth newspaper or magazine article (1940),^[2][7] and in curling and bowls a shot that knocks an opponent's stone or bowl out of play (1927, 1958).^[2] From 1964 it could also mean a shop or restaurant that sells such food.^[2]

Timeline

• 1908 – adjective, designed to be pulled or folded out, of a device.^[2][3]
• 1914 – in bridge, of a bid that takes one's partner out; also as a noun.^[2]
• 1927 – in curling, a shot that knocks an opponent's stone out of play.^[2]
• 1939 – in the United States, a tax deducted from betting winnings on horse races.^[2]
• 1940 – a cooked meal bought to be eaten off the premises; an in-depth article in a newspaper or magazine.^[2] Etymonline dates the food sense to 1925.^[3]
• 1941 – adjective, relating to or selling food to be eaten off the premises.^[2]
• 1964 – a shop or restaurant selling such food.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Prepared food bought from a restaurant or shop to be eaten somewhere else: We ordered Thai takeout and ate it on the balcony.^[7][1][2]
2. A restaurant or shop that sells such food.^[1][2]
3. In bridge, a bid that takes one's partner out of a bid, double or redouble.^[6][2]
4. In curling and bowls, a shot that knocks an opponent's stone or bowl out of play.^[2][1]
5. An article printed on consecutive pages of a newspaper or magazine; an in-depth study or report.^[7][2]
6. In the United States, the part of the money bet on a horse race that is kept back as tax.^[6][2]

Adjective

1. Of, selling, or being food that is not eaten on the premises: a takeout pizza.^[8][6][2]
2. Designed to be taken out or folded out, of a mechanical part.^[2][5]

Related words

• take
• out

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin