space out

Verb

space out (third-person singular simple present spaces out, present participle spacing out, simple past and past participle spaced out)

1. (transitive) To position (objects, people, time slots, etc.) at regular intervals with a calculated space between them.
   • She spaced out the yoga mats as much as she could while leaving room for some walkways.
   • She spaced out her scheduled events as much as she could while leaving time for question-and-answer sessions.
2. (idiomatic, intransitive) To become distracted or disoriented; to lose attention or focus.
   • She spaced out when the speaker started droning about the fine-print details of convertible debentures.
   • In that futility and rage, we're seeing incredible alcohol abuse, incredible drug abuse, compulsive sexuality. Just basically spacing out with not as much attention to political values, educational values, feeling connected to society in any kind of way. Sometimes I go to the bars and see these...1980 December 6, Cindy Rizzo, Nancy Toder, “Jewish, Lesbian, Feminist, Psychologist, Author—All of the above and more”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 20, page 8

   Synonyms:

   daydream, tune out, zone out

3. (dated, transitive, typing) To increase the white space between letters, words or lines.