"flush out" meaning in English

See flush out in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-flush out.ogg Forms: flushes out [present, singular, third-person], flushing out [participle, present], flushed out [participle, past], flushed out [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} flush out (third-person singular simple present flushes out, present participle flushing out, simple past and past participle flushed out)
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see flush, out.
    Sense id: en-flush_out-en-verb-JQXHg2tY
  2. (idiomatic) To drive out or expose something or someone, as a game bird or other game animal from cover. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: drive#Verb, flush#Verb, scare up
    Sense id: en-flush_out-en-verb-SQxQC7LD
  3. (proscribed) To flesh out. Tags: proscribed
    Sense id: en-flush_out-en-verb-vY0f9vuN Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs formed with "out", Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 2 29 69 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs formed with "out": 6 27 67 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 2 29 69 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 2 28 70

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flushes out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flushing out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flushed out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flushed out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "flush out (third-person singular simple present flushes out, present participle flushing out, simple past and past participle flushed out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see flush, out."
      ],
      "id": "en-flush_out-en-verb-JQXHg2tY",
      "links": [
        [
          "flush",
          "flush#English"
        ],
        [
          "out",
          "out#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The dogs flushed out some doves.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "The army flushed out the enemy spy.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1982 December 18, Siong-huat Chua, Sam Sasha, Philip Fung, “Hong Kong And The Emergence Of An Asian Gay Consciousness”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 22, page 9:",
          "text": "At that time a Special Investigative Unit (SIU) was set up to initiate a witch-hunt against homosexuals in government. So the SIU established this big file on homosexuals in government. Of course the real purpose was to flush out dissident civil servants, using homosexuality as an excuse. It was used as a political weapon by those who wielded power to get rid of their antagonists and their enemies.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Fingers and Thumbs immediately started rushing around, wielding their iron bars as if going into battle. They whacked everything in sight – bushes, bins, even the burnt-out burger van – in an effort to flush out whoever had hurt their glorious leader.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To drive out or expose something or someone, as a game bird or other game animal from cover."
      ],
      "id": "en-flush_out-en-verb-SQxQC7LD",
      "links": [
        [
          "drive out",
          "drive out"
        ],
        [
          "expose",
          "expose"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To drive out or expose something or someone, as a game bird or other game animal from cover."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "drive#Verb"
        },
        {
          "word": "flush#Verb"
        },
        {
          "word": "scare up"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "2 29 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "6 27 67",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs formed with \"out\"",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 29 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "2 28 70",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990, Robert E. Bergman, Thomas V. Moore, Managing Interactive Video/Multimedia Projects, Educational Technology,, →ISBN, page 45:",
          "text": "It should serve to flush out the existing ideas, generate new ones, insure that the approach chosen is responsive to the goals, and perhaps most importantly, get the whole team to sign up and take ownership of the application approach.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Laura Bell, 101 Things You Didn’t Learn in Harvard Business School, TotalRecall Publications,, →ISBN, page 68:",
          "text": "Brainstorming with friends and colleagues can help you flush out the details of the idea.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, George Berkowski, How to Build a Billion Dollar App, Little, →ISBN:",
          "text": "As you flush out a great design, start prototyping it.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To flesh out."
      ],
      "id": "en-flush_out-en-verb-vY0f9vuN",
      "links": [
        [
          "flesh out",
          "flesh out"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(proscribed) To flesh out."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "proscribed"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-flush out.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5b/En-au-flush_out.ogg/En-au-flush_out.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/En-au-flush_out.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flush out"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs formed with \"out\"",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "flushes out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flushing out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flushed out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "flushed out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "flush out (third-person singular simple present flushes out, present participle flushing out, simple past and past participle flushed out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see flush, out."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "flush",
          "flush#English"
        ],
        [
          "out",
          "out#English"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The dogs flushed out some doves.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "The army flushed out the enemy spy.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1982 December 18, Siong-huat Chua, Sam Sasha, Philip Fung, “Hong Kong And The Emergence Of An Asian Gay Consciousness”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 22, page 9:",
          "text": "At that time a Special Investigative Unit (SIU) was set up to initiate a witch-hunt against homosexuals in government. So the SIU established this big file on homosexuals in government. Of course the real purpose was to flush out dissident civil servants, using homosexuality as an excuse. It was used as a political weapon by those who wielded power to get rid of their antagonists and their enemies.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Fingers and Thumbs immediately started rushing around, wielding their iron bars as if going into battle. They whacked everything in sight – bushes, bins, even the burnt-out burger van – in an effort to flush out whoever had hurt their glorious leader.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To drive out or expose something or someone, as a game bird or other game animal from cover."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "drive out",
          "drive out"
        ],
        [
          "expose",
          "expose"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To drive out or expose something or someone, as a game bird or other game animal from cover."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "drive#Verb"
        },
        {
          "word": "flush#Verb"
        },
        {
          "word": "scare up"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English proscribed terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1990, Robert E. Bergman, Thomas V. Moore, Managing Interactive Video/Multimedia Projects, Educational Technology,, →ISBN, page 45:",
          "text": "It should serve to flush out the existing ideas, generate new ones, insure that the approach chosen is responsive to the goals, and perhaps most importantly, get the whole team to sign up and take ownership of the application approach.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Laura Bell, 101 Things You Didn’t Learn in Harvard Business School, TotalRecall Publications,, →ISBN, page 68:",
          "text": "Brainstorming with friends and colleagues can help you flush out the details of the idea.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2014, George Berkowski, How to Build a Billion Dollar App, Little, →ISBN:",
          "text": "As you flush out a great design, start prototyping it.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To flesh out."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "flesh out",
          "flesh out"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(proscribed) To flesh out."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "proscribed"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-flush out.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5b/En-au-flush_out.ogg/En-au-flush_out.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/En-au-flush_out.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "flush out"
}

Download raw JSONL data for flush out meaning in English (3.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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