SPELL OUT • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Spell out

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/spɛl aʊt/ Listen

Spell out

verb

Make explicit; specify in detail.

Spell fully and without abbreviating.

Orally recite the letters of or give the spelling of. Synonym: spell. "We had to spell out our names for the police officer"

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Etymology of 'Spell out'

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"Spell out" Quotes from Famous Books

... beginning," said Grant eagerly, "and spell out the letters and see if we can't make ...

— The Go Ahead Boys and the Treasure Cave • Ross Kay

... aunt. But I must return to my studies, and tell you what books I found in the closet, and what reading I chiefly admired. There was a great Book of Martyrs in which I used to read, or rather I used to spell out meanings; for I was too ignorant to make out many words; but there it was written all about those good men who chose to be burnt alive, rather than forsake their religion, and become naughty papists. Some words I could make out, some I could not; ...

— Books for Children - The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 3 • Charles and Mary Lamb

... as he seated himself pensively upon the prostrate monument, trying by the uncertain moonlight to spell out the epitaph which five years before he had composed with a chuckle that memory had not recorded, tears of remorse came into his eyes as he remembered that he had been mainly instrumental in compassing by a false accusation this good man's death; for during some of the legal ...

— The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Vol. II: In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians • Ambrose Bierce

... up the liveliness of a correspondence. But now it hurts one's dignity to be talking of English and French armies, at the first period of our history in which the tables are turned. After having learnt to spell out of the reigns of Edward the Third and Harry the Fifth, and begun lisping with Agincourt and Cressy, one uses one's self but awkwardly to the sounds of Tournay and Fontenoy. I don't like foreseeing the time so ...

— The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1 • Horace Walpole

... is to discover this reason. First of all, the child may be merely hungry, in which case you should at once ask the porter to bring you the a la carte menu. You should then carefully go over the list of dishes with the infant, taking care to spell out and explain such names as he may not understand. "How would you like some nice assorted hors d'oeuvres?" you say. "Waaaaa!" says the baby. "No hors d'oeuvres," you say to the waiter. "Some blue points, perhaps—you ...

— Perfect Behavior - A Guide for Ladies and Gentlemen in all Social Crises • Donald Ogden Stewart

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