dig out
phr. v..phr. v.. to find something that you have not used or seen for a long time by searching through a storage space.
phr. v.. to locate and retrieve an item from storage or a cluttered environment after a period of neglect or disuse.
I need to dig out my winter coat from the attic.
She managed to dig out some old family photos to show her grandchildren during the holiday.
After hours of searching through the archives, the researcher finally dug out the original manuscript that had been missing for decades.
- Particles
- out
- Separability
- optional
- Pattern
- dig + (object) + out
usually used with physical objects that are buried under other things or hidden in cupboards.
highlight the metaphorical 'digging'—it implies the object is at the bottom of a pile or deep inside a drawer, requiring effort to find.
I dug out it from the box.I dug it out from the box.when using a pronoun like 'it', it must go between the verb and the particle.