blackout
adjective
- blackout drunk
noun
- alcohol-related amnesia
- a usually temporary loss of a radio signal
- a time during which a special commercial offer (as of tickets) is not valid
- anti-aircraft measure that consists of minimizing light output of a city
- non-airing of programming (typically sports-related) in a certain media market
- foam-backed, opaque fabric
- a turning off of the stage lighting to separate scenes in a play or end a play or skit
- a skit that ends with a blackout
- a period of darkness (as in a city) caused by a failure of electrical power
- a wiping out : obliteration
- a blotting out by censorship : suppression
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈblæk.aʊt/ / /ˈblæk.ʌʊt/
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree English black outdeverb. English blackout Deverbal from black out.
- A temporary loss of consciousness.
- A temporary loss of memory.
““I mean, what is she even talking about? Got her pregnant at the Halloween party? What does that mean? I don't even remember that party. I was wasted.” “Yeah, me too. I browned out that evening.” “"browned out"? What's "browned out"?” “Oh, it's when you drink so much that everything goes brown. It's not as severe as a blackout, 'cause I remember bits and pieces. I like to call it "browning out."””
- A large-scale power failure, and resulting loss of electricity to consumers.
“The repairs at the Koeberg Power Station in the Western Cape were on schedule for completion in the third week of May. This follows huge blackouts related to the problems at the power supplier since November.”
“There have been several examples of space weather affecting power grids in the last few decades, notably blackouts caused by GICs [geomagnetically induced currents] in Canada in 1989 and Sweden in 2003.”
- An instance of censorship, especially a temporary one.
“media blackout”
“According to a press release issued by the clinic staff, a blackout by the local press had kept the public uninformed about the clinic's harassment.”
- An intentional outage of a website or other online service, typically as a form of protest.
“the 2012 English Wikipedia blackout”
“A group of Redditors, many of whom are moderators, organized a temporary boycott, with participating subreddits going private or restricted for 48 hours starting on Monday. A Twitch stream tracking the blackout claimed that nearly 8,500 subreddits, some with tens of millions of subscribers, had gone dark by Tuesday afternoon.”
- The mandatory blocking of all light emanating from buildings, as well as outdoor and street lighting as a measure against aerial bombing or naval attack, as imposed during, e.g., World War II.
“In co-operation with the Government departments, the British railway companies prepared their stations, offices, docks, hotels, trains, and other premises for the necessary blackout of lighting that it was realised would be required in a state of emergency, and in the case of the experimental voluntary blackouts which took place in July and August the railway companies concerned co-operated in every way possible.”
“During the "blackout", many real cars and lorries had their front wings painted white, in order to avoid accidents.”
- The blocking out of as much light as possible.
“blackout blinds; blackout curtains”
- A mass murder committed, usually in an urban area, to eliminate potential witnesses of a previous crime.
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree English black outdeverb. English blackout Deverbal from black out.
- Alternative form of black out.
“Scouts assisted Mabel Smythe Building officials in blackouting windows.”
“As blades in night's chest buried, Voraciously my eyes strike, the silent Warsaw evening, my city blackouted throughout...”