# check out

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/check-out
Updated: 2026-08-08

## Senses

### 1. leaving a hotel

phrasal verb · CEFR A2

to pay your bill and leave a hotel at the end of your stay.

For teachers: to complete the administrative process of departing from a hotel or similar establishment, typically involving the settlement of accounts.

- We need to check out of the hotel by eleven o'clock tomorrow morning.
- Guests are requested to check out by noon to allow the housekeeping staff sufficient time to prepare the rooms for subsequent arrivals.

Usage: Often used with the preposition 'of'.

### 2. to look at or inspect

phrasal verb · CEFR B1 · Informal

to look at someone or something because they seem interesting, attractive, or important.

For teachers: to examine, inspect, or observe something or someone, often to assess quality or out of curiosity.

- You should check out that new café on the corner; the coffee is great.
- The marketing team spent the afternoon checking out the competitor's new flagship store to identify potential gaps in their own retail strategy.

Usage: Transitive; the object can be placed between 'check' and 'out'.

### 3. to pay at a shop

phrasal verb · CEFR B1

to pay for your goods at a supermarket or an online shop.

For teachers: to complete a commercial transaction by paying for selected items, either at a physical counter or a digital interface.

- I had finished my shopping and was waiting to check out at the counter.
- The e-commerce platform was redesigned to allow customers to check out more efficiently, reducing the rate of abandoned shopping carts.

### 4. to be verified as true

phrasal verb · CEFR B2 · Informal

to be found true or correct after someone investigates the facts.

For teachers: to be confirmed as accurate or consistent upon investigation or comparison with known facts.

- The police looked into his story and everything seemed to check out.
- Although the suspect provided a detailed alibi, the detectives found that several key timestamps did not check out when compared to CCTV footage.

### 5. to stop paying attention

phrasal verb · CEFR C1 · Informal

to stop listening or caring about what is happening because you are bored or tired.

For teachers: to become mentally disengaged or uncooperative in a situation, often due to exhaustion or lack of interest.

- The meeting was so long that I completely checked out after the first hour.
- By the third day of the conference, many attendees had clearly checked out, preferring to check their emails rather than participate in the workshops.

### 6. computing

phrasal verb · CEFR C1 · Technical

to take a file out of a shared system so you can work on it.

For teachers: to obtain a specific version of source code or documentation from a repository for modification, preventing conflicting edits.

- Make sure you check out the latest version of the file before you start editing.
- The developer checked out the main branch to begin implementing the security patch, ensuring no other team members were currently modifying the same modules.

## Examples

- Let's check out that new café.
- If you're in town, you should check out the art exhibit at the city gallery.
- The detective decided to check out the alibi more thoroughly, suspecting the witness's story concealed a more complicated truth.

## Usage notes

- Teaching tip: Contrast this sense with 'check out of a hotel' or 'check out a library book' to show the polysemy of common phrasal verbs.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.