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flake out

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flake out

1. To cancel a prearranged meeting or event, especially at the last minute; to fail to attend or go through with something. I'm going to stop inviting Samantha to do stuff with me because she always ends up flaking out. I hate to flake out on them again, but I'm just too tired to go out tonight.

2. To collapse or faint from exhaustion or fatigue. After the eighth or ninth hour wandering in the woods, George eventually flaked out under a tree.

3. To go, or cause to go, crazy. I don't know what happened! I just mentioned that her father had called, and she started flaking out at me! His huge, arduous assignments are really starting to flake his students out.

4. To fall asleep or take a nap. I think I'm going to head home at lunch and flake out for a bit.

5. To lose one's confidence, courage, or resolve. I really need your help in this fight, please don't flake out on me now!

See also: flake, out

flake out

1. Drop from exhaustion, faint. For example, After running the marathon, be simply flaked out on the ground. This expression possibly is derived from a now obsolete meaning of flake, "to become flabby or fall in folds." [Slang; c. 1940]

2. Lie down, go to sleep, as in Homeless persons flaked out in doorways. [Slang; early 1940s]

3. Lose one's nerve, as in Please don't flake out now. [Slang; 1950s]

4. Go crazy; also, cause someone to go crazy. For example, She just flaked out and we had to call an ambulance, or This project is flaking us out. The usages in def. 3 and 4 probably are derived from the adjective flaky, meaning "eccentric." [c. 1970]

5. Die, as in He flaked out last night. [1960s]

6. Surprise, astonish, as in She said she'd just been made a partner, and that flaked me out. This usage appears to be a variant of freak out. [c. 1970]

See also: flake, out

flake out

v. Slang

1. To act oddly or eccentrically: I flaked out after hearing the bad news.

2. To lose interest or nerve: We wanted to go skydiving, but at the last minute we flaked out.

3. To fall asleep or collapse from fatigue or exhaustion: After driving for ten hours, I stopped and flaked out.

4. To fail to live up to an expectation or responsibility: I wouldn't have assigned you such an important task if I knew you were going to flake out like that. My contractor flaked out on me, and now I need to find a new one.

See also: flake, out

flake (out)

1. in. to pass out from exhaustion; to fall asleep. (see also flack (out).) After jogging, I usually flake for a while.

2. in. to fall asleep after drug use. (Drugs.) An hour after she took the stuff, she just flaked.

See also: flake, out