passing out

Verb

pass out (third-person singular simple present passes out, present participle passing out, simple past and past participle passed out)

1. (intransitive) To faint; to become unconscious.
   • I pass out at the sight of blood.
2. (slang) To fall asleep irrespective of wilful action, as a result of the consumption of alcohol or other drugs or another form of physiological exhaustion.
3. (transitive) To distribute.
   • Near-synonyms: hand out, give out

   Synonyms:

   hand out, give out

4. (usually, fire-fighters) To graduate, usually marked by a ceremony at the end of training.
   • He wasn't allowed to finish his training to go to France; but was sent to England on a Physical Training Course and passed out First Class.1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 113
5. (broadly) To become proficient in a particular job or task.
   • "It took me about a month to pass out on this box," he adds. "It's easy to be daunted by all the levers and bell codes and Absolute Block, but it's all the usual rules of anywhere else. You can't just come up here from the street though, and I thought I'd never be able to work this SB [signal box]...2018, Rail, issue 857, July 18-July 31, article on Severn Bridge Junction signal box at Shrewsbury
6. (India) To graduate from university.
   • He passed out of the Madras University in 1990.

See all 8 meanings of pass out