Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (UK Und.) to work as a thief.

1812		Vaux Memoirs in McLachlan (1964) 82: For a few weeks we continued to go out with one or other of the gentlemen frequenting the Swan.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 90: Go out — or going-out; to rob in the streets, is understood.
1835		Metropolitan Mag. XIV Sept. 333: I waited until he was unslang’d and come up to London, when [...] we took the necessary steps to go out together.

2. (Aus./US/US prison) to die.

1818		‘Thomas Brown’ Fudge Family in Paris 23: For a lad who goes into the world, Dick, like me, / Should have his neck tied up you know [...] / Almost as tight as some lads who go out of it.
1888		Soldiers’ Stories and Sailors’ Yarns 164: She told me that Don Pedro, recovered from his wound, after plaguing her [...] with a churchyard cough [...] had at last ‘gone out’.
1896		H. Blossom Checkers 116: I wish to heaven I had ‘gone out;’ instead of getting well.
1901		Boy’s Own Paper 22 June 594: Poor old chap! He was to ‘go out’ far sooner than any of us expected!
1915		C.J. Dennis ‘Uncle Jim’ in Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 95: We done poor Muvver proud when she went out – / A slap-up send-orf, trimmed wiv tears an’ crape.
1920		F. Packard White Moll 34: I know. They told me. I’d have known it anyway. I’m going out.
1927		(con. WW1) D.W. King L.M. 8046 145: I gave him one of my morphine tablets. That left one for Neilson and two for me; one for a wound and two to go out with if I were badly crippled.
1930		R.E. Howard ‘Fist and Fang’ Fight Stories May 🌐 I was fighting for the privilege of me and my pard going out clean.
1932		‘R. Scully’ Scarlet Pansy 328: He lapsed into unconsciousness, breathing more and more slowly. At the end of half an hour he went out.
1935		Ex-Légionnaire 1384 Arab Patrol 294: An agent of L’Espionage Centrale was bound to catch it one way or another [...] it was better to go out this way, after letting daylight into thirteen dirty Arabs.
1944		C.S. Montanye ‘Death with Music’ in Thrilling Detective Feb. 🌐 That shiv was in for keeps. He must have gone out in a hurry.
1953		T. Runyon In For Life 141: They [i.e. the condemned men] would [...] be dressed in their ‘going out’ suits.
1965		H.S. Thompson letter 2 May in Proud Highway (1997) 513: I think that’s the way to go out, running the Big Sur highway on a big cycle with no lights.
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 205: It was the stand-up thing to do [...] Going out doing some other guy a good turn.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 174: The screams of a guy going out badly.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 133: Fuck it, we’re all gang members, we’re all gonna have to die. Let’s just go out like villains.
2006		G. Pelecanos Night Gardener 350: The old man shouldn’t go out like that. He doesn’t deserve it.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] ‘Do what you came to do, ’cause I ain’t beggin’ nobody but Jesus.’ Shameeq smiled. ‘Least you ain’t go out like no sucker’.

3. to escape from prison.

1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 406: Going out. Leaving prison.
1999		Guardian Weekend 6 Nov. 40: ‘We’re going out tonight,’ Turner whispered.

4. (orig. US) to faint, to lose consciousness; esp. in phr. go out like a light.

1918		B. Hall ‘En l’air!’ 60: Just as I arrived the captain-observer was lighting a match to set fire to the machine. I only had an instant to think, so I hit him under the jaw and out he went.
1935		‘Patrolman Craven’ Hell Riders 261: I felt a sock on the back of my head. Funny thing is, I didn’t go right out.
1937		P. Cheyney Dames Don’t Care (1960) 120: She waddles over to me an’ she lifts up her foot an’ she kicks me in the face [...] I just see a lot more stars an’ I go sick as hell an’ I go out again.
1943		W.R. Burnett Nobody Lives for Ever 173: Windy gets so sore he belts his girl friend a couple and knocks her out—he claims he just slapped her. Well, before she goes out she yells bloody murder and somebody calls a cop.
1959		J. Gosling Ghost Squad 182: I let him have a fourpenny one on the chin. He went out like a light.
1977		(con. 1965-66) P. Caputo Rumor of War 282: ‘He keeps going out, sir,’ said one of the riflemen. ‘If he don’t get evacked pretty quick, we’re afraid he’ll go out for good’.

5. (US black) to act, to behave.

1990		M. McAlary Crack War (1991) 107: Mustafa states, ‘I’m not going out like that.’ [i.e. in jail].
1992		UGK ‘Trill Ass Nigga’ 🎵 You fronted big man and then went out like a ho.
1995		L. Stavsky et al. A2Z.
2003		UGK ‘Front, Back and Side to Side’ 🎵 Never goin out out like simps, walkin your block with gangsta limp.

6. (US black) to sell out, to abandon one’s principles.

1995

L. Stavsky et al. A2Z.

7. see under go v.