staying out

Verb

stay out (third-person singular simple present stays out, present participle staying out, simple past and past participle stayed out)

1. (intransitive) To spend time out of one's house.
   • He stayed out all night in the bar.
2. (transitive) To avoid going into somewhere.
   • He stayed out of the bar all night.
3. (obsolete) To outstay; to stay longer than.
   • The company had now staid so long, that Mrs Fitzpatrick plainly perceived they all designed to stay out each other. She therefore resolved to rid herself of Jones, he being the visitant to whom she thought the least ceremony was due.1749, Henry Fielding, “Which Consists of Visiting”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume V, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XIII, page 29