ENGLISH
REFERENCE

black out

idiom
Meaning

To censor or cover up by writing over with black ink.


Examples
SIMPLE

Please black out your personal information on the form.

CONTEXTUAL

The government decided to black out several paragraphs in the report before releasing it to the public.

COMPLEX

To protect the identity of the confidential informant, the legal team chose to black out all identifying details within the released documents.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    black babies

    Third-world charities, the missions.

  2. 02

    black day

    A day of great disaster, misfortune or unhappiness.

  3. 03

    black gold

    Raw petroleum; crude oil.

  4. 04

    black hat

    A villain in a story, especially in a Western (a film or other work of the Western genre).

  5. 05

    black mark

    Something that negatively affects someone's reputation.

  6. 06

    black market

    Trade that is in violation of restrictions, rationing, or price controls.

  7. 07

    black over Bill's mother's

    Describing rain-bearing dark clouds on the horizon.

  8. 08

    black oxide

    Any of several coatings for steels or copper; some are oxides (mainly iron(II,III) oxide), some are nitrites or nitrates, and some are selenides; all are black; the main purposes are the antireflective and cosmetic effects; the anticorrosion effects are small.

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