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3. blot out

blot out

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blot someone or something out

Fig. to forget someone or something by covering up memories or by trying to forget. I try to blot those bad thoughts out. I tried to blot out those unhappy days.

See also: blot, out

blot someone out

Sl. to kill someone. (Originally underworld slang.) Sorry, chum, we got orders to blot you out. The gang blotted out the only living witness before the trial.

See also: blot, out

blot something out

to make something invisible by covering it. (See also blot someone or something out.) Don't blot the name out on the application form. Who blotted out the name on this form?

See also: blot, out

blot out something

also blot something out

to make something stop upsetting you I twist the pillow over my head to blot out the horrible sounds. She closed her eyes, trying to blot out the memory of the day's events.

Related vocabulary: block out something

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of blot (to cover something with drops of ink)

See also: blot, out

blot out

Obliterate, wipe out of existence or memory, as in At least one Indian nation was blotted out as the pioneers moved west, or The trauma of the accident blotted out all her memory of recent events. This idiom, first recorded in 1516, uses the verb to blot in the sense of making something illegible by spotting or staining it with ink. The New Testament has it (Acts 3:19): "Repent ye ... that your sins may be blotted out."

See also: blot, out