out of order

order

1. a statement (by a person in authority) of what someone must do; a command. He gave me my orders.

2. an instruction to supply something. orders from Germany for special gates.

3. something supplied. Your order is nearly ready.

4. a tidy state. The house is in (good) order.

5. a system or method. I must have order in my life.

6. an arrangement (of people, things etc) in space, time etc. in alphabetical order; in order of importance.

7. a peaceful condition. law and order.

8. a written instruction to pay money. a banker's order.

9. a group, class, rank or position. This is a list of the various orders of plants; the social order.

10. a religious society, especially of monks. the Benedictine order.

1. to tell (someone) to do something (from a position of authority). He ordered me to stand up.

2. to give an instruction to supply. I have ordered some new furniture from the shop; He ordered a steak.

3. to put in order. Should we order these alphabetically?

well-behaved; quiet. an orderly queue of people.

1. a hospital attendant who does routine jobs.

2. a soldier who carries an officer's orders and messages.

a form on which a customer's order is written.

1. correct according to what is regularly done, especially in meetings etc. It is quite in order to end the meeting now.

2. in a good efficient state. Everything is in order for the party.

so that. He checked all his figures again in order that the report might be as accurate as possible.

for the purpose of. I went home in order to change my clothes.

made when and how a customer wishes. curtains made to order.

having been ordered but not yet supplied. We don't have any copies of this book at the moment, but it's on order.

to keep on giving orders (to someone). I'm tired of him ordering me about all the time.

1. not working (properly). The machine is out of order.

2. not correct according to what is regularly done, especially in meetings etc. He was out of order in saying that.

a difficult job or task. Asking us to finish this by Friday is a bit of a tall order.

out

1. adverb, adjective not in a building etc; from inside a building etc; in(to) the open air. The children are out in the garden; They went out for a walk.

2. adverb from inside (something). He opened the desk and took out a pencil.

3. adverb, adjective away from home, an office etc. We had an evening out; The manager is out.

4. adverb, adjective far away. The ship was out at sea; He went out to India.

5. adverb loudly and clearly. He shouted out the answer.

6. adverb completely. She was tired out.

7. adverb, adjective not correct. My calculations seem to be out.

8. adverb, adjective free, known, available etc. He let the cat out; The secret is out.

9. adverb, adjective (in games) having been defeated. The batsman was (caught) out.

10. adverb, adjective on strike. The men came out in protest.

11. adverb, adjective no longer in fashion. Long hair is definitely out.

12. adverb, adjective (of the tide) with the water at or going to its lowest level. The tide is (going) out.

13. adjective unacceptable. That suggestion is definitely out.

1. not inside or near, as in out-lying.

2. indicating outward movement, as in outburst.

3. indicating that the action goes further or beyond a normal action, as in outshine.

outside; far from (the centre of) something. outer space.

nearest the edge, outside etc. the outermost ring on the target.

a usually short trip, made for pleasure. an outing to the seaside.

1. on or towards the outside; able to be seen. Judging by his outward appearance, he's not very rich; no outward sign of unhappiness.

2. (of a journey) away from. The outward journey will be by sea, but they will return home by air.

in appearance. Outwardly he is cheerful, but he is really a very unhappy person.

towards the outside edge or surface. Moving outwards from the centre of the painting, we see that the figures become smaller.

very bad. an out-and-out liar.

paid in cash; paid out of your own pocket. out-of-pocket expenses.

to have no money; to lose money. I can't pay you now as I'm out of pocket at the moment.

1. no longer visible; where you cannot see something or be seen. They watched the ship sailing until it was out of sight; Put it out of sight.

2. an old expression meaning wonderful, fantastic. The show was out of sight.

an expression describing a situation in which someone is forgotten when he/she is not around. They used to be close friends, but since he left it has become a case of out of sight, out of mind.

difficult to reach or arrive at. an out-of-the-way place.

to be wanting or intending to get. She is out for revenge.

to be determined to. He is out to win the race.

1. from inside. He took it out of the bag.

2. not in. Mr Smith is out of the office; out of danger; out of sight.

3. from among. Four out of five people like this song.

4. having none left. She is quite out of breath.

5. because of. He did it out of curiosity/spite.

6. from. He drank the lemonade straight out of the bottle.

outside. We like to eat out of doors in summer.

1. not part of a group, activity etc. I felt a bit out of it at the party.

2. no longer involved in something. That was a crazy scheme – I'm glad to be out of it.

unusual. There was nothing out of the way about what she said.

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.